


The Things You Haven't Told Me

by Nanenna



Series: WDG 102 [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Amnesia, Angst, Flashbacks, Forgotten Gaster, Foul Language, Gen, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, It is Underfell afterall, Major Character Injury, Minor Character Death, Mpreg, Near Death Experiences, POV Third Person, Past Tense, Pre-Undertale, Present Tense, Skeleton Pregnancy (Undertale), Teen Pregnancy, Tense changes are purposeful and consistent, Violence, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-07-13 06:42:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 28,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16012415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nanenna/pseuds/Nanenna
Summary: When Sans was injured so badly he had to be hospitalized, Papyrus thought that was the worst thing to have happened to either of them. After all Sans had spent all of Papyrus's life avoiding fights, even with that (really cool) scar there was no way Sans had ever been that close to death before. But while cleaning Sans's room he found something he'd never seen before, something from a past he never knew about and had been too young to remember. Now Papyrus is questioning everything he ever thought he knew about himself or Sans.





	1. Please SAVE My Brother!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans and Papyrus are ambushed. They fight valiantly, but Sans is gravely injured. Papyrus takes this about as well as can be expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fic title was kindly donated by [StarkUnreality](https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarkUnreality), who has been endlessly patient as I babbled about my story to her. Thank you!
> 
> This fic is dark, it's the darkest I've ever written and I'm actually a bit nervous about posting it. Please note that it is rated as M, not E. The following subjects will either be discussed by the characters or are confirmed to happen "off screen" but nothing will be explicitly shown: rape/non-con, statutory rape, dub-con, age difference, child birth, child death, "human" experimentation (actually monster experimentation but it's the UT fandom), and unethical science. If any of the above are triggering or make you extremely uncomfortable please do not read this fic. If there are any tags or warnings you feel I missed please let me know and I'll add them.
> 
> For those that choose to keep going: I hope you enjoy the ride, it's going to be angsty.

The crunch of snow underfoot was the only sound in the quiet forest around Papyrus, echoing off the trees and still snow surrounding him. Past Doggo’s sentry station there wasn’t even another set of footprints to follow thanks to the snow that had been slowly drifting down all day. Papyrus couldn’t understand why his brother was fine with having a sentry station so far away from anyone else. Sans had always seemed happiest when surrounded by lots of loud, rowdy, rude, drunk monsters; willingly spending long hours out here alone seemed almost out of character.

As the furthest sentry station came into view, Papyrus thought he might understand. Sans was leaning forward over his station, skull pillowed on his arms as he slept. Of course Sans would want the furthest station, any closer to town and he couldn’t get away with lazing about.

Papyrus stopped in front of Sans’s station and sighed loudly, Sans didn’t even bother looking up. “SLACKING OFF, I SEE.”

“is it really slackin’ off if my shift’s technic’ly over?”

“THEN WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?”

“’cause yer here???” Sans finally looked up, quirking a brow at Papyrus like it was the most obvious thing in the Underground. He leaned back and stretched his arms as he yawned. “you’ve come to pick me up at the end of every shift since i started, why wouldn’t i wait for ya?

“DON’T GET USED TO IT, THIS IS ONLY YOUR FIRST WEEK AND SOMEONE HAS TO MAKE SURE YOU ACTUALLY DO. YOUR. JOB.”

“geez, ya act like i’ve never worked a day in my life,” Sans grumbled as he stood up.

“I’M NOT THE ONE WHO MYSTERIOUSLY QUIT MY JOB FOR NO REASON AND THEN PRETENDED TO STILL HAVE ONE FOR… WHAT WAS IT? A WHOLE MONTH? MORE?”

“asshole didn’t deserve to have a _treasure_ like me workin’ for ‘im.” Sans grinned cheekily up at Papyrus as he laced his fingers together behind his skull. He started walking down the path Papyrus had made getting out here, Papyrus quickly fell into step next to him, somehow their strides matching despite the obvious difference in height. “but more importantly,” Sans said casually, “the other day i found a real _gem_ : an ol’ photo album an’ i thought it’d be nice to go through it together, a _golden_ trip down the ol’ memory lane an’ all that.” Sans waved a hand vaguely before lacing it back behind his skull. “so whaddya say to stoppin’ by somewhere to grab some grub on the way home?”

“YOU’RE JUST USING THAT AS AN EXCUSE TO EAT THAT DISGUSTING, GREASY, UNHEALTHY PUB FOOD YOU’RE SO GROSSLY FOND OF.”

Sans laughed at that, “a li’l. if ya can think of someplace ya’d rather have i can _hunt_ it up for ya, i know a shortcut.” He winked up at his little brother.

Papyrus’s eye twitched, he wasn’t going to give in and respond to his brother’s atrocious puns! It’s exactly what Sans wanted. “UGH, YOU AND YOUR LAZY SHORTCUTS. NO, WE HAVE EVERYTHING WE NEED AT HOME. WE ARE NOT GETTING A QUICK MEAL ON THE WAY BACK.”

“yeah, okay, whatever ya say, boss. probably best to wait ‘til a day off anyway.” Sans sighed and looked at the trees they were passing.

Papyrus frowned, why would they need a whole day off just to go through one old photo album? He opened his mouth and was about to ask that very question when a bullet went whizzing past his head. “WHO THE FUCK WOULD DARE?!” Papyrus screamed, bone attacks already summoned with sharpened tips pointed out defensively.

Sans still had his hands laced behind his skull, his posture relaxed despite the fact he now had his back towards Papyrus as his eye lights scanned the area. A round of bullets flew by, all going wide. “eight of them, hiding like cowards. probably not even worth your time, boss, let’s just get out of here.”

“WORTH MY TIME OR NOT, I WON’T LET ANY IDIOTS THINK THEY CAN JUST GET AWAY WITH ATTACKING A SENTRY OR A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GUARD.”

Sans shrugged again before summoning his own round of sharpened bones and sent them out. Papyrus followed the attacks with his own, trusting his brother’s aim. They both heard their attackers yelp and scramble to get out of the way or risk taking the attacks. Shortly all eight were stalking forward, each surrounded by their own defensive rings of bullets. Papyrus looked them over, a couple rabbits, a dog, the rest all seemed to have scales. He wasn’t sure if they were fish, lizards, or dragons, but no matter what they wouldn’t fare well in the cold snow.

“Well, well, guess you’re not as useless as you look,” one of the rabbits tried to say menacingly. The effect was ruined by the whistling sound a broken front tooth made whenever he said anything with an S in it. That and his ugly leather jacket with a blotchy dye job, god what a try hard!

“WHAT DO YOU… YOU KNOW WHAT? IT’S NOT IMPORTANT. YOU’VE ATTACKED US AND NOW YOU’RE GOING TO PAY FOR SUCH INSOLENCE.” Papyrus pulled up the Fight HUD and made sure Sans was marked as his ally.

*SANS – HP 11/1

Then the brothers bolted in opposite directions. Their attackers seemed surprised, they shouted and scrambled to split into two groups to chase them down. Three went after Sans while the remaining five chased after Papyrus. He smirked, their mistake to focus on him. Though he can’t help feeling flattered they think he’s the bigger threat.

Unfortunately that left Papyrus on the defensive until Sans could take care of his group and give him some back-up. Fortunately dodging is easy when you can bend space to your will. Papyrus rolled in the snow, dodging a few bullets in doing so and forced the last two to just barely miss, then sent a spray of bone attacks in a wide arc. He heard a distant “fuck” in a familiar voice.

*SANS – HP 6/1

Well shit, now that nap he had caught Sans taking earlier actually served a purpose, Sans was never going to let him hear the end of it.

“HURRY UP, YOU USELESS WHELP!”

“i am hurrying, boss! fucking hell!”

“What’s,” a shrill whistle at the end of the word nearly drowned out the next, “taking you three so long? The short one’s practically free EXP!” The only response the ringleader got was a gargled wheeze.

Sans stepped into view from behind a snow poff, leaving the remaining attackers trapped between the brothers.

“ABOUT FUCKING TIME.”

“yeah, yeah, let’s just get this over with.” Sans summoned several bones above his head, angled with their sharpened ends pointed at the ground. They slammed into the ground around their attackers like a rain of spears, stopping just short of Papyrus, who mirrored Sans’s attack with his own. Soon the dumb idiots that assaulted them were desperately weaving through a field of bones while dodging new ones shooting towards them, occasionally one or two of them even managed to fire off a few bullets at either brother.

*SANS – HP 1/1

Papyrus growled, he would yell at his brother for getting distracted but that would just distract Sans. It’s fine, he reminded himself, Sans isn’t dead yet and there are just two left: the ringleader rabbit and the one dog. They can handle this easily, even if Sans is sweating and breathing heavily. When they get home Papyrus is going to have to scold Sans about his deplorable stamina.

Sans and Papyrus moved in on the last two attackers, the bones pointed at their necks slowly inching forward as they advanced. “SURRENDER AND FACE YOUR PUNISHMENT.”

“You think you’re hot shit just for being all buddy buddy with Undyne.”

“NO, I THINK I’M HOT SHIT FOR TAKING ALL EIGHT OF YOU DOWN WITH ONLY THE HELP OF ONE ASTHMATIC SENTRY.”

“hey! i ain’t asthmatic ya bossy li’l bastard!”

Papyrus smirked as he summoned a large bone, this one whole. It shouldn’t take much to knock these last two out and haul the whole lot off to jail. His face shifted to horror as one of the attackers behind Sans lifted himself up despite the blue bone impaling him and shot a bullet towards Sans. Papyrus barely had time to lift a hand before it hit him, then Sans was face down in the snow.

*SANS – HP 0.0001/1

A blaster materialized right over the attacker and fired, leaving nothing but a smoking crater behind.

“The fuck was that?!” one of the scalies shrieked in terror, right before several more blasters appeared and fired. Seven more smoking craters and dust drifting away in the gentle breeze.

Papyrus quickly scrambled over and picked Sans up. Not dust, still whole, still bone, not dust. “SANS, ARE YOU OKAY? STAY WITH ME, YOU’LL BE OKAY. YOU’LL BE OKAY.”

* SANS – HP 0.0000001/1

Shit, his HP was falling. Papyrus carefully cradled his ~~frail~~ brother as he ran to town. There were no healers in Snowdin, it was too small and too dangerous for any of the rare monsters with that talent to want to bother with, he’d have to take care of Sans himself. Papyrus rushed through town and straight to their home, he barely bothered to shut the front door behind him as he ran directly into the kitchen. He shifted Sans into a one-armed hold and nearly tore the refrigerator door off its hinges in his rush to open it.

They didn’t have anything remotely like finger food, Papyrus couldn’t stand the thought of eating with his bare hands like some kind of savage. Fortunately he had experimented with some ‘Italy’ cuisine the other day and they had spaghetti and meatballs left over. Papyrus grabbed the container and sunk to the floor, he leaned Sans’s ~~tiny~~ ~~helpless~~ unresponsive body up against his own so he could use both hands to wrench open the container and tear a bite sized chunk off a meatball. He ignored the tomato sauce he was getting everywhere as he held open Sans’s mouth and practically shoved the meatball piece in.

* SANS – HP 0.00000000000001/1

“SHIT!” Papyrus went back to the fridge and hastily shoved ingredients and leftovers out of his way until he reached the very back. There, his hand closed around a garish yellow bottle and pulled it out. The bottle was distressingly light, it took several shakes before he finally managed to squeeze a little mustard into Sans’s mouth.

* SANS – HP 0.00000000001/1

“DAMN IT, DAMN IT, DAMNIT!” Papyrus picked Sans back up and rushed out the door again. The mustard might have bought him some time, but he was worried the time he had spent trying to get the damn mustard into Sans would cancel it out. He ran as fast as he could through Waterfall, jumping over the ridiculously small gap a small bird would demand a toll to carry monsters across and dodging around or just leaping over any monsters that got in his way.

Next thing he knew he was running across the bridge from Waterfall into Hotland and heading straight to the elevator. He pushed the button that would drop him off right in front of the Core. He had to remind himself three times that this was in fact faster than running through all those awful conveyor belt and steam vent puzzles, his foot tapping impatiently for the entire ride.

The elevator finally came to a stop and the doors opened with a ding, Papyrus was already sprinting through them before they were even fully open. He ran into the Future Site of the MTT (TM) Resort to find the usual crowd of monsters around the elevator to New Home. “MAKE WAY, MAKE WAY! ROYAL GUARD COMING THROUGH!” Fortunately the elevator was crowded but not clogged or stuck. Again. Papyrus angrily kicked all the monsters out of his way until he could get inside, then mashed the close door button. Once the doors did finally close, he breathed a sigh of relief to be moving again. The elevator only had the two points to stop between, so the ride would be quick and uninterrupted.

The door opened onto another crowd of annoyed monsters all trying to use the elevator. “GET OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY!” Papyrus hollered before just kicking and snarling his way through the crowd. Once free, Papyrus started running through the gray streets. He was in New Home now, the only place in the whole Underground that actually had a hospital, and located close to the Core in case of any kind of _accident_. In practically no time at all ~~too long, still too long! What if it’s too late? What if he’s already falling to dust?~~ Papyrus was running into the hospital emergency center and gasping out “MY BROTHER IS INJURED, FIX HIM!” to the bored looking receptionist.

Sans was pulled from his arms and there was a flurry of activity accompanied by lots of yelling as monsters bustled around him. Papyrus was breathing hard, running all the way across the Underground had finally caught up with him, he collapsed against the intake desk and tried to get his breathing back under control.

“Sir? Are you injured too?”

“BARELY A SCRATCH, I’LL BE FINE.” His HP wasn’t even down to half, more than enough to keep going for days yet. A little food and a chance to catch his breath and he’d be back to full health. Sans, on the other hand…

“Can you tell us what happened?”

“WE WERE ATTACKED NEAR HIS SENTRY STATION, ASSHOLES THOUGHT OUTNUMBERING US FOUR TO ONE WOULD BE ENOUGH.” Papyrus nearly flinched as a realization hit him, on duty or not they were both still members of the Royal Guard and this would need to be reported. So would the deaths of their attackers. And… ugh! Someone would have to be sent out to investigate where the fight happened to confirm the deaths and there would be so. Much. Paperwork.

“Alright, that makes this official Royal Guard business and procedure has to be followed,” the person talking to Papyrus said. Papyrus looked at the speaker and realized they were the receptionist he had first run up to. “If you could just take a seat, someone will bring you something to eat shortly as well as the necessary forms.”

Speak of the devil and he’ll make you do paperwork, of course. “WHAT ABOUT MY BROTHER? WILL HE BE OKAY?”

“He’s in the best possible hands,” the receptionist said reassuringly. Papyrus was not reassured. A vague answer like that either meant the receptionist didn’t know shit or seriously thought Sans was already as good as dust. He was going to lean towards not knowing shit, they weren’t a doctor after all.

Papyrus sat down as instructed and sure enough someone brought a rather bland pastry and several forms that needed to be filled out. Papyrus sighed before grabbing the pen and starting on the paperwork, he had a feeling it would be a long, long wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While it may be weird for Monsters, who canonically don't shit, to say words like "shit" for a curse word, I'm choosing to use it anyway because of audience familiarity. I could construct my own idioms, curse words, and cultural references that I feel make more sense, but they simply won't have the same weight and bite for the audience and would likely require extensive notes at the end of each chapter and well... we have enough of those without all that. So please consider any words, phrases, or societal norms you don't think Monsters would use/adhere to, to be simply translations.


	2. The Fallen and the Injured

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans's doctor gives Papyrus the bad news, Papyrus is understandably incensed and calls for back up.

It was some time later, long after he had filled out and turned in the required paperwork, called Undyne to report directly, then started and eventually grew bored of pacing restlessly, that Papyrus was finally called back to see his brother. The lab coat wearing doctor, another skeleton he noted, led him back into one of the many patient rooms. Sans was laying in bed, changed into a sickly green medical gown, eyes closed, an IV dripping faintly glowing green fluid into a tube that disappeared under the collar of the gown.

“HOW LONG UNTIL HE RECOVERS, DR. ROTIS?”

Doctor Rotis shook his head, “I’m Afraid There Won’t Be A Recovery, Your Brother Has Fallen Down.”

Papyrus scowled at the doctor, “NO, YOU’RE WRONG.”

“I Know This News Can Be Very Upsetting, But His Health Is Taking A Long Time To Return To Full And-”

“BUT IT IS RETURNING,” Papyrus insisted loudly. “IT’S GOING UP, SO HE HASN’T FALLEN DOWN.”

Doctor Rotis frowned and stood up straighter. “But His Health Is In The Decimals, That’s Not Normal-”

“IS IT NORMAL FOR A MONSTER THAT’S FALLEN DOWN?”

“Well… No, But-”

“THEN IT DOESN’T MEAN HE’S FALLEN DOWN, IT JUST MEANS HIS HEALTH IS LOW. AND IT’S GOING BACK UP, SO THAT MEANS HE’S GETTING BETTER AND NOT FALLEN THE FUCK DOWN.”

“His Bones Are Strangely Soft And Pliable...”

“AND IS THAT A USUAL SYMPTOM FOR A SKELETON THAT’S FALLEN DOWN?”

“It’s… Well… No One’s Ever Seen Anything Like It Before,” the doctor said hesitantly.

“THEN HE HASN’T FALLEN DOWN AND YOU’RE A COMPLETE MORON FOR THINKING ALL THESE RANDOM THINGS MEAN HE HAS.”

“These Symptoms Certainly Aren’t Good For Him!” the doctor growled. “And Whether These Strange Symptoms Mean He’s Fallen Down Or Not Doesn’t Change The Fact That He’s Completely Unresponsive. This,” the doctor waved an arm over Sans’s sleeping form, “Means He’s Fallen Down, And You’re Better Off Accepting That Fact Than Being Stuck In Denial Like It’ll Somehow Help.”

Papyrus stomped a foot, “HE HASN’T FALLEN DOWN! HE WAS INJURED, I WAS THERE WHEN IT FUCKING HAPPENED. BULLETS DON’T MAKE MONSTERS FALL DOWN! BULLETS TURN MONSTERS DIRECTLY INTO DUST… WHICH HE’S NOT!!!”

Doctor Rotis huffed, “Fine Then, Continue On In Your Delusion. Normally We Would Simply Send A Monster Who’s Fallen Down-”

“HE’S NOT.”

“… Home For Their Family To Deal With As They So Choose, But Dr. Alphys Has Just Sent Out A Call For All Fallen Monsters To Be Brought To Her Lab-”

“EXCEPT SANS HASN’T. FALLEN. **DOWN**!”

“He’s Completely Unresponsive, Not Even Asleep, He **Has** Fallen Down And These Orders Are From The Royal Scientist Herself, I **Have** To Follow Them. Now, If You Would Just Sign These Waiver And Release Forms…”

“I REFUSE.”

Doctor Rotis sighed again, “I Can’t Follow Orders, **The Royal Scientist’s Orders** , If You Continue To Act Like A Petulant Child.” He looked Papyrus up and down, then mumbled to himself, “Which At This Point I’m Not Even Sure You’re Not. Are You Even An Adult?”

Papyrus held up a finger to demand silence, then pointed to the phone he had put up to the side of his skull while the doctor had been mumbling. The doctor spluttered and started to protest but the other end had already connected.

“Hello?”

“UNDYNE!”

“Oh Papyrus,” Undyne’s voice came over the phone far gentler than he had ever heard her speak, “did he pass away?”

“NO! SANS IS… WELL… HE’S NOT WELL BUT HIS HP IS GOING UP.”

“Up? Doesn’t he have only the one?”

“YES, AND GIVEN ENOUGH TIME I’M SURE HIS ONE HP WILL BE FULL AGAIN AND HE’LL WAKE UP, BUT THIS SO CALLED _DOCTOR_ IS INSISTING THAT HE’S FALLEN DOWN AND THAT HE HAS ORDERS TO SEND ALL FALLEN MONSTERS TO THE ROYAL SCIENTIST FOR… I DON’T KNOW… EXPERIMENTATION PROBABLY. WILL YOU PLEASE TELL HIM WHAT A COMPLETE IDIOT HE’S BEING AND THAT OBVIOUSLY SANS HASN’T FALLEN DOWN?”

“Yeah, sure, hand over the phone.”

Papyrus smirked as he held the phone out to the doctor, “HERE, THE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD WANTS TO SPEAK WITH YOU.”

Rotis scowled, he clearly had heard Papyrus’s half of the conversation and wasn’t looking forward to being told the exact same thing by someone who actually had the authority to shut him up. The smirk didn’t leave Papyrus’s face as Rotis stumbled over himself verbally.

“To Whom Am I Spea-… How Do I Know This Is Rea-… Ma’am, If You Would Just Let Me Fini- … Yes, Directly From Dr. Alphys Herself… Why Would I Know Why You Didn’t Get Them? **I’m** Not The Royal Scientist… Ma’am, It’s Not **My** Job To Give **You** Orders… There Was Nothing In Dr. Alphys’s Orders About An Exception For Guardsmen Or Sentries… _Obvious_ Or Not My Orders Are Very Clear… I Can’t Agree To Anything Without Some Proo-… Excuse Me If I’m Not Inclined To Believe Some Random Monster A Hysterical Relative Called Up… Alright Fine Th-… Yes… Yes, I Said Yes Already! We Can Wait Up To Tomorrow Morning… If You Say So.” Rotis huffed yet again as he angrily held the phone back out to Papyrus.

“WELL?”

“The Rather Loud And Insistent Monster You Called Is Coming Here To Prove She Is The Captain Of The Royal Guard, Until Then Your Refusal To Cooperate Stands.”

“I SUPPOSE IT’S A START, WHEN UNDYNE GETS HERE WE’LL FINALLY SEE SOME REAL PROGRESS.”

“We Shall See, Until Then Visiting Hours End In About An Hour And Forty Five Minutes, A Nurse Will See You Out When That Happens.”

“YOU’RE GOING TO WAIT RIGHT HERE UNTIL **CAPTAIN** UNDYNE ARRIVES.”

“Sir, She Is All The Way In Waterfall Right Now.”

“SO?”

Rotis threw his hands up in the air, “Your Brother Isn’t My Only Patient, You Know!”

Papyrus simply stood there, arms crossed, glaring at Rotis. There was a building rumble, like a rock fall that seemed to grow louder or perhaps closer before suddenly cutting off.

“What Was That? An Earthquake?” Rotis looked around in confusion. “I Need To Make Sure None Of The Equipment Was Damaged, The Physical Injury Ward, The Fallen Monsters Waiting For The Morning Transfer…” He tried to step past Papyrus, who moved to stand in his way. “As I Just Said, Your Brother Is Not Anywhere Near My Only Patient, I Have Others In Far Less Stable Condition That Need My Immediate Attention.” Rotis tried to step around Papyrus again, only for Papyrus to move into his way. “Will You Just Move Already?!”

“HAH! I found you!” Undyne burst through the open doorway with a triumphant grin across her scarred face.

“UNDYNE, THERE YOU ARE. WHAT TOOK SO LONG?”

“It’s not my fault the receptionist made me take the time to get all signed in and shit, all this stupid paperwork. I HATE IT!”

“THERE DOES SEEM TO BE FAR TOO MANY FORMS THAT NEED FILLING OUT, LIKE THE RELEASE FORM THIS NUMBSKULL THOUGHT I WAS EVER GOING TO SIGN.”

“Heh, numbskull! You must like the guy if that’s the worst thing you’re calling him.”

“HE IS AN IDIOT AND A MORON WHO SLEEP WALKED HIS WAY THROUGH MEDICAL SCHOOL AND APPARENTLY FORGOT HOW TO SPEAK.”

“So, is this ‘ _proof_ ’ enough for ya or do I gotta suplex something to make you believe me?” Undyne grinned all the wider as she made grabby hands at Rotis.

“N-n-no, I Believe You!” Rotis stuttered, his back pressed against the wall. He slowly sidled his way towards the door, “Sentries And Guardsmen Are Exempt From Dr. Alphys’s Call For Fallen Monsters, Got It.”

“Good. Make sure the rest of the hospital staff know!” Undyne cheerfully waved goodbye as Rotis ran the last couple feet to the door and out it. Once he was gone, she turned her full attention to Sans still laying in the hospital bed. “Okay, I get that some monsters take longer to heal than others even with food, it just depends on how intense the killing intent was or their defense. But uh… how is he not dead if he has less than one HP right now?”

“SANS IS FAR STURDIER THAN ANYONE WOULD ASSUME!”

Undyne walked over to the foot of the bed and picked up a clipboard hanging from it. “His HP is in the decimals?” Undyne asked incredulously.

“HOW ELSE WOULD SOMEONE WITH A MAX HP OF 1 HAVE LESS THAN FULL HEALTH?”

Undyne blinked a few times, “Okay yeah, that checks out.” She put the clipboard back, then stretched her back. She cracked her neck, stretched out her fingers, then looked back down at Sans. “And this is depressing. C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

“BUT VISITING HOURS AREN’T OVER YET…”

“And he’s not going to wake up before they are, sitting around watching him sleep isn’t going to do anyone any good. Let’s go to my place, we’ll have some dinner and you can crash on my couch.”

“I’D RATHER AVOID CRASHING INTO ANYTHING.”

“Why? It’s so fun!” Undyne grinned maniacally as she grabbed Papyrus’s arm and started dragging him out of the room, purposefully shoving him into the door frame as they went through it.

“OW! UNDYNE! THIS IS NOT FUN!”

“Sure it is!” She shoved him into the wall.

“MAYBE FOR YOU, BUT I AM ONLY HAVING MINUSCULE AMOUNTS OF FUN AT BEST!” As they passed through another doorway he body checked her into the frame.

Undyne guffawed, “See? Isn’t this FUN?!” She shoved him right back.

“NO, NOT AT ALL!” Papyrus yelled gleefully as the two had a shoving match the whole way out of the hospital.

Once outside, Undyne shoved Papyrus away from her. “Last one to my house has to DO THE DISHES!” Undyne started laughing as she began running.

“CHEATER! YOU DIDN’T SAY THE RACE WAS STARTING!” Papyrus took off after her.  
  


* * *

  
The next day they were both at the hospital bright and early, matching sharp toothed grins on their faces as they made sure all the doctors and nurses knew that moving Sans was completely off limits. “He’s injured, not fallen!” Undyne yelled. “Make sure to fix his paperwork, I won’t have you lot shipping him off to that mad scientist just because of a damn typo! He’s a sentry, an employee of the Royal Guard, and he was on duty when he was INJURED so I’m going to personally make sure that you quacks don’t fuck this up!”

“According to his admittance paperwork he was off duty when the attack happened,” A rather snooty receptionist said as he tapped said paperwork with a manicured claw.

Undyne grabbed the paperwork and tore it to shreds while yelling, “NGAHHH!! ANOTHER MISTAKE! I can’t believe how INCOMPETENT you fucking idiots all are! You better fix all these typos and mistakes before I see you again!!”

The receptionist grumbled, but turned to his computer and started typing away at the keys. Undyne took that as compliance, but Papyrus was sure she’d be back later to check up on the staff. “He’s already had his morning check-up,” the receptionist groused as he glared up at the pair. “Aside from his HP slowly rising there’s no reported change. Are you going back to visit or what?”

Papyrus opened his mouth to say “OF COURSE WE ARE!” when Undyne leaned forward and said, “Nah, no point if there hasn’t been any changes. But I want the both of us to be informed the moment there is one.”

Papyrus’s jaw snapped shut with a click.

“Yeah, yeah, EVERYONE on this floor knows,” the receptionist grumbled as he went back to typing.

Undyne punched the desk, the receptionist jumped and yelped. He glared as Undyne laughed loudly, “Don’t try to act big if you can’t back it up, little piece of friendly advice.” She turned and started walking out of the hospital before the receptionist could respond. Papyrus smirked at the scowling receptionist before following her out.

Once the pair were outside, Papyrus moved to Undyne’s left side and started scanning the area for possible threats as they walked to the elevator that would take them past the Core. “Since this incident happened while on duty,” Undyne said once they were alone in the elevator, “I’m giving you a few days off to make sure he gets proper care.”

“THANK YOU, UNDYNE.”

“So, what do you plan to do with the rest of your day?”

“I SUPPOSE THE FIRST THING I SHOULD DO IS GO HOME AND CLEAN THE HOUSE, HIS ROOM ESPECIALLY. IT’S SO UNSANITARY! A HORRIBLE PLACE FOR HIM TO RECOVER.”

“Okay then, I’m gonna help!”

“AREN’T YOU BUSY BEING CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD?”

“Not too busy to help my most dedicated junior enlisted!”

“I HAVEN’T BEEN A **JUNIOR** ENLISTED FOR A WHILE!” Papyrus squawked indignantly.

“Nearly three months, I’m so proud of you!” Undyne pretended to wipe away a single tear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter digs into my personal HC about Monsters and physical injuries and healing magic. Between Undyne's eye and the way monsters take injuries in game I feel that healing magic is really only instantaneous like in the game on magical injuries, that is attacks that directly affect the soul rather than the physical body. Physical injuries on Monsters (inflicted by the natural world like heat stroke or cave ins, or by other Monsters such as claws or baseball bats) take longer to heal even with healing magic. It's not instantaneous like in the game, healing magic really just boosts a Monster's natural healing process. This is how scars happen on Monsters, they are all caused by physical injuries. And since intent affects Monsters so much a physical injury with intent behind it is especially dangerous and takes even longer to heal. A magical attack with enough killing intent and malice behind it can slow the normally instantaneous magic healing. 
> 
> Also this chapter brings in Undyne and her relationship with Papyrus and I just adore these two! Look at that darling mentor/protégé relationship!


	3. Cleaning Fairy Princess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus and Undyne do a lot of cleaning. That's it, that's the whole chapter, certainly nothing interesting or worth talking about happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So aside from violence and cussing, this is where the other warnings are just starting to come into play. It's only implied in this chapter, but please be aware of the tags and warnings.
> 
> Warning for this chapter: Vomiting.

Undyne and Papyrus walked into the brothers’ home, Papyrus sighed when he looked into the kitchen. The refrigerator door was wide open, a few containers and one empty mustard bottle were scattered over the floor where they were marinating in the spilled contents of the container he’d opened yesterday in a blind panic. The inside of the fridge wasn’t much better, sauce claw marks were left on the shelves, the walls, and the remaining containers which were shoved about all willy-nilly along with ingredients.

“Ugh, a cold fridge. That’s the worst, what kind of idiot wants cold food?”

“THE SAME KIND OF IDIOT THAT LIVES IN A FROZEN WASTELAND,” Papyrus replied dryly as he started picking everything up.

“Yeah, only a COMPLETE IDIOT would want to live in a frozen wasteland,” Undyne laughed as she watched him organize. The mustard bottle went in the trash, the sauce covered containers were set on the counter, and everything else was pulled out so he could clean the inside of the fridge.

“HERE, MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL AND WIPE ALL THE SAUCE OFF THESE WHILE I CLEAN OUT THE FRIDGE SINCE YOU’RE TOO MUCH OF A WHINY BITCH TO GET A LITTLE COLD.”

“This whiny bitch is still your boss.”

“YOU’RE THE ONE WHO OFFERED TO HELP,” he reminded her before going into the fridge.

Despite how they poked at each other they fell into amiable chatter as they cleaned, mostly about the Royal Guard. “… and with the school year about to end everyone who just turned eighteen is going to apply to the guard and I’M the one who’s gonna have to sort through them all and ugh!”

“NOT EVERYONE,” Papyrus reminded her smugly as he finished putting everything back in the fridge.

“Okay Mr. Pedantic-Asshole.” Undyne rolled her eyes, then put her fists on her hips as she surveyed the now clean kitchen. “So, what’s next?”

“WE SHOULD PROBABLY JUST START WITH SANS’S ROOM.”

“You know, I’ve never been inside it,” Undyne mused as she followed Papyrus out of the kitchen and up the stairs. “What’s it like?”

“ANOTHER WORLD, ONE WHERE NO ONE KNOWS HOW TO FUCKING VACUUM.”

“Sounds gross!” Undyne said cheerfully.

Papyrus opened the door to reveal Sans’s room, it was indeed gross. There was the bare, stained mattress on the floor with just an old blanket wound into a ball sitting on top, several small piles of dirty clothes scattered around, a dresser with more dirty clothes hanging out of the half open drawers, the trash tornado… Even without a nose Papyrus could smell the room.

“Oh wow, you weren’t kidding about it.” Undyne wandered in and scrunched up her brow. “How does he live like this?”

“I HAVE NO IDEA, WHEN I WAS A KID HE INSISTED ON KEEPING THE WHOLE HOUSE SPOTLESS.”

“That’s… weird to think about.”

“TRY LIVING IT!”

“Well, where do we start?”

“I’M GOING TO GATHER UP THE LAUNDRY, YOU GET ALL THIS TRASH THROWN OUT. THEN WE’LL SEE ABOUT VACUUMING AT LEAST.”

“Right.” The pair set to work. Papyrus had to run to his room for a laundry basket, he swore to himself he’d clean it before putting it back in his own room. Undyne had to run down to the kitchen to grab a trash can since Sans didn’t seem to have one of his own. Honestly! Papyrus was going to have a long talk with Sans about his health and his unhealthy living environment when he got home. It would go well with the long talk he already needed to have about Sans’s deplorable stamina, perhaps even one causing the other. “Papyrus, what’s up with this blanket? It’s all torn up, is it trash too?”

“OH THAT. SANS HAS HAD IT FOR AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER, THOUGH THE LAST TIME I SAW IT IT WAS NOT NEARLY IN THAT BAD A SHAPE. SANS LOVES THAT OLD THING, WHEN’D IT GET SO BAD?” He picked it up to start plucking at some of the frayed knots the tears were tied into, then noticed there had been something underneath it. He dropped the ratty old blanket ball on the floor and picked the object up. “WHAT’S THIS?”

Undyne stood next to him to get a better look herself. It was a thick book of some kind, dark red with a pair of oddly shaped golden shoes on the front tied together by their laces.

“Looks like a baby book,” Undyne commented.

“WHAT? THAT’S RIDICULOUS! WHY WOULD SANS HAVE A BABY BOOK? AND HOW CAN YOU EVEN TELL FROM JUST THE COVER?”

“Because these are baby booties,” Undyne said as she pointed at the oddly shaped shoes. “And there’s an easy way to find out, why don’t you open it?”

Papyrus opened the book, the inside cover was blank, but the first page looked to be a form filled out in his brother’s round handwriting. Only rather than his usual lazy scrawl each letter seemed to be carefully and neatly written out. The information was unexpected, though perhaps it shouldn’t have been. Papyrus’s name, date, and time of birth along with various other stats stared back up at him. “IT’S… MY BABY BOOK???”

“Oh cool, let’s see what you looked like as a baby.”

“I DON’T UNDERSTAND… I DON’T HAVE A BABY BOOK? I MEAN… I MIGHT HAVE HAD ONE ONCE BUT I THOUGHT IT WAS LOST WHEN WE RAN AWAY OR WERE ABANDONED OR ORPHANED OR WHATEVER THE HELL HAPPENED.”

“What do you mean? You don’t know?” Undyne asked in disbelief.

“SANS DOESN’T LIKE TALKING ABOUT IT AND I WAS TOO YOUNG TO REMEMBER.”

“Well you clearly still have a baby book, so why not look through it?”

Papyrus slowly turned around and gingerly sat on the edge of Sans’s mattress. The page was held delicately between his fingers as he worked up the will to turn it. “RIGHT BEFORE WE WERE ATTACKED SANS TOLD ME HE’D FOUND AN OLD PHOTO ALBUM AND WANTED TO LOOK AT IT TOGETHER. THIS MUST BE IT, BUT… MAYBE I SHOULD WAIT UNTIL HE COMES HOME? HE WANTED TO LOOK AT IT **TOGETHER**.”

Undyne flopped onto the bed next to Papyrus. “Aw! C’mon! It’s YOUR baby book, you can look at it all you want. In fact you SHOULD look through it! Now hurry the fuck up, I wanna see what you looked like as a tiny little baby!”

Papyrus huffed, “YOU WOULD.” He turned the page. The next page had only a single photo pasted to the very center of the page with an inscription written below it. The photo was of a much younger Sans, already sporting the crack over his left eye that led to a replacement fang, holding a swaddled bundle of baby bones next to an unfamiliar fish monster. Both were grinning happily despite Sans looking utterly exhausted.

“Who’s that?” Undyne asked while pointing at the fish.

“I DON’T KNOW, I’VE NEVER SEEN HER BEFORE.” He looked below the picture to read the inscription:

> Sans: 15 years  
>  Papyrus: 20 minutes  
>  Naiad: 89 years

Papyrus frowned at that, “WAIT, THIS IS WRONG.”

“What? Her name’s not Naiad?”

“I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT THE OLD BITCH, I’M TALKING ABOUT THE AGES. SANS IS ONLY 12 YEARS OLDER THAN ME, NOT 15. AND IF I’M LESS THAN HALF AN HOUR OLD THEN WHERE’S OUR MOTHER? YOU’D THINK THEY’D BE THERE TOO. UNLESS THEY JUST DUSTED. IN WHICH CASE WHO THE FUCK TAKES A HAPPY PHOTO LIKE THAT?” The other side of the page had more photos, a couple with this Naiad woman and a few with an old rock elemental that seemed to be named Peter, but all of them featuring Sans holding a newborn Papyrus with the same dilapidated, tiny, under furnished, studio apartment in the background. He flipped through more pages, it was more of the same though Naiad seemed to be in more photos than Peter. Young Papyrus was growing quickly, like the photos weren’t taken often. Still more often than in the part of his childhood he actually remembered.

Papyrus’s hand paused mid page turn, when was the last time Sans had taken a picture of either of them?

“You okay there, Papyrus?”

He shook his head, “YES, I’M FINE. JUST GOT LOST THERE FOR A SECOND.” He started flipping through pages even faster, but the only thing to change was Papyrus getting older and sometimes the photos were taken in a different but very similar looking dilapidated, tiny, over furnished, studio apartment. “I JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND, WHERE WERE THESE EVEN TAKEN? WHO IS THIS NAIAD PERSON? IS SHE RELATED TO US? WHERE ARE OUR PARENTS?” Papyrus stared down at the page, his fingers were next to a picture of Sans towering over a very small Papyrus wearing a brand new striped shirt and backpack, the caption proudly stating it was his first day of kindergarten.

“You said you were abandoned or orphaned or whatever the fuck, maybe it happened when you were born?”

Papyrus flipped back to the first picture and glowered at the caption. “THAT DOESN’T EXPLAIN SANS’S AGE BEING WRITTEN DOWN WRONG.” It didn’t make sense, everything Sans had ever told him wasn’t matching up with what Sans had written down himself when they were both younger. Much, much younger. He flipped back to the first page, where all his birth information was written in Sans’s own hand writing. He flipped back to the first picture and caption. Apparently not as much younger for Sans. Had Sans been lying about his age all these years? Why? And where was their mother? If Papyrus had just been born…

Papyrus suddenly stood up, the album fell from his lap onto the floor face down. “OH MY GOD!!!”

“Oh my god!” Undyne dived to pick up the album, fortunately the pages weren’t ripped or bent.

“IT CAN’T BE!”

“What? What can’t be?”

“HE’S BEEN TRYING TO TELL ME FOR… A FEW WEEKS? A MONTH?”

“Who’s been? What?” Undyne stood up with the album clutched tightly to her chest, she looked about ready to drop it so she could grab him by the shoulders and shake answers out of him.

“SANS! HE ASKED ME A FEW TIMES IF I WANTED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT MY PARENTS. **MY** PARENTS, NOT **OUR** PARENTS!!! ONE TIME HE ASKED ME ‘WHAT IF WE WEREN’T BROTHERS?’ AND I TOLD HIM TO SHUT THE HELL UP BECAUSE I DIDN’T WANT TO HEAR THAT MAYBE WE AREN’T BROTHERS. AND THEN YESTERDAY HE WAS GOING TO SHOW ME THIS PHOTO ALBUM I’VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE BUT HE’S HAD SINCE I WAS BORN AND… **OH MY GOD**! HE WAS **FIFTEEN**!!!” Papyrus clutched his skull as his voice reached a shrill note that made Undyne wince. He wobbled, it felt like someone was using blue magic on his whole body, pulling his personal gravity this way and that. He stepped towards the door but stumbled and fell to his knees, one hand up to try to hold back the retching sound he was already making.

“Oh shit!”

The trash can slid into his narrow field of vision and Papyrus curled over it just in time. How someone without a stomach could puke was beyond either of them, but Undyne gently patted his back as Papyrus puked up quite a lot of sour magic.

“MY WHOLE LIFE IS A LIE!” Papyrus sobbed between heaves. “ALL THIS TIME! ALL THIS TIME!! I DON’T UNDERSTAND, WHY DID HE LIE?” Tears welled up in his eye sockets and dripped off his face to join the putrid magic sludge coating the trash. “FIFTEEN! MY GOD, UNDYNE, HE WAS ONLY FIFTEEN. IS THAT WHY?”

“I dunno buddy, you’ll have to explain it to me once you’ve had a chance to calm down.”

Papyrus spit into the trashcan, trying to rid his mouth of the taste of sour magic, then he leaned back and half heartedly wiped at his tears. Angel above he must be a mess, thank god he had changed his regular gloves for cleaning ones shortly after starting. He took a deep breath, moved away from the trashcan, then took a few more deep breaths. Finally he softly said, “SANS IS MY MOTHER.”

“Sans is your what now?”

“IT’S THE ONLY THING THAT MAKES SENSE, THERE’S ONLY TWO PEOPLE BESIDES ME IN THAT FIRST PICTURE AND I’M FAIRLY CERTAIN NAIAD ISN’T MY MOTHER, SO UNLESS THEY DUSTED GIVING BIRTH TO ME OR SOMEHOW JUST GOT UP AND LEFT THEN WHO ELSE? AND… AND WHY ELSE WOULD SANS LIE ABOUT HIS AGE UNLESS HE WAS TRYING TO COVER UP SOMETHING? AND THOSE COMMENTS ABOUT HIM TRYING TO GET ME TO ASK ABOUT MY OWN PARENTS, LIKE HE WAS FINALLY READY TO TELL ME THE TRUTH. AND THEN THOSE ASSHOLES HAD TO SHOW UP AND PUT HIM IN THE HOSPITAL AND-”

“Whoa, okay, slow down.” Undyne put an arm over his shoulders as he got his breathing back under control. “Look, you’re right that it would make sense, but it’s not the only thing that would make sense, okay? So don’t go jumping to the first conclusion!”

Papyrus sniffled and wiped at more tears, but nodded in agreement.

Undyne pulled Papyrus to his feet and started dragging him out Sans’s door. “WAIT, THE ALBUM…”

“Leave it, it’d be dumb to take it with us.”

That was true, no one took anything truly precious with them anywhere unless they had to. “WHERE ARE WE GOING?”

“To get sloshed, this is all too much to handle sober!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lied, something very worth talking about happens. :3c
> 
> So last chapter I had Dr. Rotis mention that Fallen monsters are sent home for their families to deal with "as they so choose." This is Underfell, so as you can imagine the most common choice is violent and dusty. A Fallen monster may not give as much EXP as a healthy monster (just a personal HC that has no in game support) but it's still seen as better to kill your Fallen family than to let them linger and their EXP go to waste. It's pretty much seen as a mercy to the Fallen monster that they not linger like that and as a sort of last gift to their family. Most monsters even expect this of their own family and would be offended to find out they had been allowed to dust naturally. In a kill or be killed world who your EXP goes to is kind of important.


	4. Just Another Weird Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus and Undyne do more cleaning and discover something else while they're at it. Don't worry, it's not world changing this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since we're starting to get into the warnings I want to remind everyone to make sure they're familiar with the tags. Warnings for this chapter: discussions of rape, alcohol abuse, starvation, teen pregnancy, and minor vomit mention.

Papyrus woke with a sharp pain in his skull that went very nicely with the dull ache in every. Last. One. Of his joints. He blinked blearily as he looked around, the dim surroundings a blessed mercy on his stinging eyes. This was Undyne’s living room, and he was on her couch. A blanket must have been thrown over him at some point, though now it was tangled around his femurs. He sat up and set about untangling himself before even attempting to stand, he absently took note of his armor laying in pieces on the floor. Specifically his boots and chest piece were on the floor, along with his belt, his scarf, and the bright yellow rubber gloves he had worn while cleaning. Thankfully his pants and undershirt were still on, not that he thought something might have happened with Undyne while they had been drunk (neither of them felt that way and they both knew it) it’s just that no one had seen his bare bones since he was a small child. And even then it had only been Sans, his brother.

**His  m o t h e r.**

The memory came back with all the subtlety of a cave in. He actually winced and held a hand to his head as the full discovery from the previous day pushed itself to the front of his thoughts, almost as if someone were forcing him to remember.

Undyne came slowly shambling by in nothing but a torn, too big T-shirt and hopefully some sort of shorts underneath. “Mornin’,” she mumbled as she passed him on her way to the kitchen. Papyrus got up and followed her if only for the distraction. “You hungry?” she asked blearily. “No wait, don’t matter, gotta eat something.” She opened her cupboards and dug around until she found some fish snacks. She ate a handful right out of the box before handing it over to Papyrus.

He wrinkled his nasal bridge, eating with your unwashed hands right out of the box like some kind of barbaric brute! It was disgusting! He took the box and dug out a handful anyway, mostly because the moment the food absorbed into his system his headache eased from a spike driven between his orbits to a mere knife stabbed between his orbits. Undyne had a pot filled with water on the stove and was already adding stuff to it while stirring. Papyrus chose to stand off to the side and wait rather than try to eat more.

“So aside from the hangover we’re both about to try fighting off, how ya doing?”

“I’VE BEEN BETTER.”

Undyne gave half a shrug, “Understandable.” There was a moment of silence as she started stirring the bubbling pot with more vigor. “Wait, is this still about that album?”

Papyrus crossed his arms and stared down at them nervously. “HE WAS FIFTEEN… AND I’M PRETTY SURE HIS BIRTHDAY IS TWO OR THREE MONTHS BEFORE MINE SO-”

“Wait, you’re pretty sure? Do you not KNOW when Sans’s birthday is?”

Papyrus shook his head, “NO, I’VE ASKED BUT HE ALWAYS DEFLECTS OR MAKES A JOKE OR… THE POINT IS IF I’M RIGHT THEN HE TURNED FIFTEEN MAYBE THREE MONTHS BEFORE I WAS BORN. THAT MEANS HE WAS FOURTEEN WHEN… WHEN…” He gagged as he fought to keep from losing whatever he had drunk the night before.

“We don’t know that’s what actually happened, Papyrus. Just calm down and breathe.”

“I MIGHT BE A RAPE BABY,” Papyrus said softly.

“Oh come ON! I can think of three other explanations WITHOUT EVEN **TRYING**!” Undyne shouted in exasperation.

“OH REALLY? NAME ONE.”

“It’s not like that picture had the whole place in it, what if your mother was resting after having just given birth, then later dusted?”

“IT WAS A STUDIO APARTMENT, I’M PRETTY SURE MOST OF IT WAS IN THAT FIRST PICTURE. BUT IF IT WILL MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER WE CAN LOOK AT IT AGAIN. HOWEVER, THAT DOESN’T EXPLAIN SANS LYING ABOUT HIS AGE OR TRYING TO GET ME TO ASK ABOUT MY PARENTS. **MINE** , UNDYNE, NOT **OURS**.”

“First he might have had to lie about his age to become your legal guardian! Or, no… that would be lying to be older. Okay so… what if that lady in like half or more of those pictures was your legal guardian and Sans had to lie to be younger so she could adopt you both? Or foster or whatever. And maybe the reason he’s so much older is he’s like your half brother so talking about **your** parents instead of both your parents is specifying the parent you **don’t** have in common. Or maybe you’re actually cousins, who knows? There’s lots of things it could be, so don’t jump to the first idea you have then sit there and stress over it.”

Papyrus took a deep breath, “OKAY, YOU’RE RIGHT. THE BEST THING TO DO IS JUST… NOT THINK ABOUT IT UNTIL SANS WAKES UP AND CAN TELL US EVERYTHING HIMSELF.”

“Right! And the first step to that is eating this oatmeal!” Undyne enthusiastically poured the slimy, burnt, unflavored oatmeal she had just made into two bowls waiting off to the side. Papyrus flinched while she was focused on that, he didn’t want to admit how terrible Undyne really was at cooking, but that didn’t mean he wanted to eat it. She thought sugar made your teeth weak and had nothing in her kitchen to flavor it with, unless you counted the burnt chunks scraped up from the bottom. But food was food, no one wasted anything down here. They sat down at her table, at least she agreed to not eat standing up like an uncivilized philistine, and the pair started eating.

“SO I’M GOING HOME TO DO MORE CLEANING, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

“Helping you, of course!”

“I THOUGHT THAT WAS ONLY YESTERDAY.”

“Don’t worry about it! I cleared your schedule for the whole week and mine until tomorrow, I figured you’d need some moral support the first day at least.”

“THANK YOU UNDYNE, THAT’S SO-”

“WHICH MEANS THAT IF WE HURRY UP WITH THE CLEANING WE’LL HAVE TIME FOR A SPARRING MATCH OR MAYBE EVEN SOME INTENSE TRAINING!” Undyne yelled gleefully before tipping her head back and just scraping the entire bowl of oatmeal into her mouth in one go.

Papyrus was aghast at her table manners, but following suit would mean not having to actually taste the oatmeal and they could get started that much quicker. He tipped his head back and scraped his own oatmeal into his open mouth before slamming the bowl on the table top. “YOU’RE RIGHT! LET’S GO CLEAN UP SANS’S DISGUSTING ROOM RIGHT NOW!”

“THAT’S THE SPIRIT!” Undyne held her fists up in the air in victory before running into the back of her house. Papyrus heard water rushing through pipes as he calmly gathered up the dishes and deposited them in the sink. Then he went back over to the couch and started piecing his armor back on. Undyne came out while he was strapping on his last boot, she was dressed in a tank top, dark jeans, and a grin that could cut through steel. “I’ll race you to your house!”

“THIS TIME NO CHEATING!”

“I NEVER cheat!” Undyne declared with a raised fist.

They laughed as they left her house, then actually counted to three before taking off this time. Papyrus won, just barely getting to his front door before Undyne. He struggled to unlock it while she pounded his scapula in congratulations. Once inside Undyne started handing out orders, “I’m going to take care of the mess you made yesterday while YOU shower and put on something better for cleaning.”

“GOD, WHO PUT YOU IN CHARGE?”

“ASGORE! Now get moving, guardsman!”

“YES MA’AM!” Papyrus saluted before going upstairs and doing as he was told, not that it was a hardship. He had been dying to brush his teeth since he woke up, and a change of clothes would be wonderful relief. Laundry would have to be done, but since that was planned anyway his clothes could just go in with Sans’s. By the time he was finished Undyne was almost done gathering up the stray bits of trash, the trashcan had already been cleaned out, and the album was no longer sitting on the bed.

“WHERE’S THE ALBUM?”

“Didn’t want it distracting you, we have a goal today!” Undyne pointed aggressively at Papyrus, but softened her stance and tone when she saw the worried furrow to his brow. “Don’t worry so much, it’s safe. You can look through it when we’re done.”

“RIGHT, OF COURSE, WE HAVE A JOB TO DO.” Papyrus went back to gathering up Sans’s dirty clothes. He finished shoving everything on the floor into his laundry basket, them moved over to the dresser with dirty socks and shirts hanging half way out of the half closed drawers. They might be clean and just stained, but they were just as likely to be what Sans deemed ‘clean enough,’ a murky standard that Papyrus didn’t agree with one bit. It would be ~~easier~~ more efficient to just throw all of them into the wash than to spend time determining if anything in the room was actually clean.

He pulled the first drawer all the way out and dumped the entire contents into the basket, a mixture of clothes, whoopee cushions, and at least one rubber chicken all fell into the laundry basket. “UGH, WHY DID I THINK THAT WOULD ACTUALLY WORK? STUPID SANS AND HIS INFANTILE PRANKS.”

“Maybe you should just THROW THEM ALL OUT RIGHT NOW!” Undyne started laughing at her own suggestion, or possibly at Papyrus as he carefully plucked the prank items out of the laundry basket. The rest of the drawers were emptied by hand to make sure nothing else, like the three different pulp sci-fi novels Papyrus found in three different sock drawers, ended up in the laundry. He opened the first bottom drawer and started pulling stained off-white shirts out.

“WHAT THE FUCK?”

“What? What is it? Find something else to make you puke in the trash again?”

“QUITE NEARLY, LOOK AT THIS.” Papyrus pointed down into the drawer where hidden behind the shirts ~~and more dirty socks, where did Sans even get so many damn socks? And why can’t he keep them all in the same drawer?~~ was a half eaten burger and several wrapped pieces of junk food. “WHY THE HELL DOES SANS HAVE FOOD IN HIS UNDERSHIRT DRAWER?”

“Oh. Oh man! I know what that is. It’s his hoard, best uh… better not move it. Or touch it.”

“WHAT? HOARD? LIKE… LIKE WHAT DRAGONS DO?”

“Not really the same thing…”

“WAIT, THERE’S SOMETHING SHINY BACK THERE…” Papyrus pulled the drawer all the way out. Buried under a Twinkie ~~is that from the garbage dump? That is clearly human food! Human food spoils!~~ and some loose, squirming gummy worms was what appeared to be a small pile of G. “THERE REALLY IS GOLD IN THERE, WHY DOES SANS HAVE A DRAGON HOARD?”

“Not a dragon hoard, an emergency hoard. It’s common for people who uh… who starved a lot or for a long time.”

“IT’S… IT’S WHAT?”

“When someone goes a long time with barely any food and then things get better and they have regular food again they tend to keep an emergency stash so they never starve again. So if you touch it Sans is probably going to be very upset.”

“WHEN HAS SANS EVER STARVED?!” Papyrus began breathing hard, he searched his memories but so far as he knew they had always had regular food, Sans had worked hard to make sure of that for Papyrus’s entire childhood. Very, very hard. Like he couldn’t stand the thought of ever going hungry.

“… matter how long ago it happened,” Papyrus tuned back into what Undyne was saying mid-sentence, “if it went on for a really long time he’s gonna keep a stash of food near him for probably the rest of his life. It’s harmless, really.”

“SANS WAS STARVING FOR PROBABLY A LONG TIME AND YOU THINK IT’S HARMLESS???”

“Harmless now, obviously it was bad whenever it happened. If you don’t remember then he was probably pretty young when it happened. Hey! You think that’s why he’s like half your height?”

Papyrus stared up at Undyne for nearly a whole minute before silently pushing the drawer back into the dresser and moving onto the next one.

“Sorry, sorry, I know this is a lot of weird stuff you’re stumbling onto and it’s totally freaking you out. How about we take a breather? We can snow wrestle!”

“LET’S JUST FINISH THIS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my favorite chapter, how did all the best jokes and one liners and descriptions all go into one chapter? There are a few other good ones (like Papy's sick come back in the first chapter) but this chapter just has the highest concentration.
> 
> Okay! So this chapter I wanted to discuss age a little. Namely: we don't know how normal (non-boss) monsters age. To keep things simple the ages I'm using are based on how humans age, though admittedly this is mainly to keep the shock value for what's going to happen. As an example: "Monster A's first kill was when they were 10" has a lot more impact than "Monster A's first kill was when they were 33" even if we know they live to be 300+ years old. Like the curse words, think of it as a translation with localisations.
> 
> Also: I know oatmeal with dino eggs is canon Papy's favorite food, I just chose regular oatmeal here because it's my go to quick and easy hot breakfast.


	5. This Day Just Keeps Getting Better and Better

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus and Undyne make another discovery! Wow, who knew how much you could find out about a past you never even knew to question when you just poke around a little.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for: implied child abuse and implied medical/scientific abuse.

Somehow the pair managed to get through the rest of Sans’s room without finding any other freakish surprises, though Undyne thought that might be because Papyrus seemed to be avoiding digging into the closet any farther than he had to to put away the laundry. She did find a stash of knickknacks, mostly small toys or little figurines, behind the far corner of Sans’s bed. She had no idea what importance they had but decided it was best to leave them be. And not tell Papyrus about them. Once the room was clean to Papyrus’s exacting standards they went downstairs for some lunch and then to decide what to do with the rest of their afternoon.

“I’m telling you, SNOW WRESTLING! It’ll be so good for you!” She was pretty sure it would help release some of the tension that had him wound tighter than Woshua’s ass.

“YOU’LL LAST FIVE MINUTES BEFORE BITCHING ABOUT THE COLD.”

“IS THAT A **CHALLENGE**?!” Undyne demanded angrily.

“WHAT ABOUT THE ALBUM? NOW THAT WE’VE CLEANED SANS’S ROOM AND EATEN I WANT A CHANCE TO ACTUALLY LOOK THROUGH IT THOROUGHLY.”

Undyne sighed, “Yeah, figured you would. I hid it behind the TV.”

“A MOST INGENIOUS HIDING PLACE.” Papyrus grabbed the album and sat down on the couch, Undyne plopped down next to him and leaned in close so she could look at the pictures as well. He opened to the first one and studied it carefully. “THE APARTMENT BEHIND THEM REALLY IS TINY, YOU CAN SEE BASICALLY THE WHOLE THING. AND THERE’S THE BED, SO UNLESS THERE’S ANOTHER ONE BEHIND THE PHOTOGRAPHER...”

“There might be.” Undyne scowled and crossed her arms, she was definitely not pouting.

Papyrus side eyed her hard, a feat for someone without eyes. He seemed to let the matter go, however. “I SWEAR THAT LOOKS LIKE THE SAME MATTRESS SANS STILL SLEEPS ON, IT DOESN’T EVEN HAVE A FRAME.”

“Honestly most of the place looks old and beat up.”

“EVERYTHING EXCEPT THAT.” Papyrus tapped one of the other pictures’ background, where a bassinet was set up next to the bed. It was a frilly affair with bows all over it, not a stain or tear in sight.

“Yeah, weird. So we gonna just stare at the first page or are you actually going to look through the rest like you said you wanted to?” She really hoped he would, even if it would only distract from his fixation for a little while.

“I WANT TO STUDY EVERY PICTURE THOROUGHLY, SO HAVE SOME PATIENCE FOR ONCE IN YOUR GODDAMN LIFE.” Papyrus turned the page and looked over the pictures pasted neatly to each side. He was noticing a trend, “SANS’S CLOTHES ARE ALL OLD AND PATCHED UP, BUT EVERYTHING I’M WEARING LOOKS BRAND NEW AND EVEN EXPENSIVE.”

“Yeah, that crib doesn’t have a scratch on it.” Undyne pointed to a picture in the corner as she spoke, it was the same rock elemental kneeling next to a smiling Sans while both held up tools, likely they had just put the crib together. “But isn’t that how things still are? Sans wears old, ratty, stained clothes until they fall apart and you actually take care of your stuff.”

“BUT BACK THEN WHO WAS TAKING CARE OF MY STUFF? I CERTAINLY COULDN’T, I WAS A BABY.”

Undyne shrugged and made the ‘I don’t know’ noise. “That Naiad bitch?”

Papyrus just nodded, then turned the page and kept looking. The pictures were more of the same, some were even captioned: “Papyrus’s first word: Nana” or “Papyrus’s first step!” along with dates. Undyne couldn’t help but snort when she saw “He called me Snas, I’m changing my name!” written under a picture of Sans looking near tears while holding a laughing toddler Papyrus.

“And you really don’t remember any of this?”

“UNDYNE,” Papyrus said in his most long suffering voice, “I WAS A BABY. OR A VERY SMALL CHILD.” He pointed to a picture of himself standing next to Sans, the caption proudly claiming it to be his first day of kindergarten. “CLEARLY WE’VE MOVED SINCE THEN, AND I DON’T REMEMBER ANYTHING FROM BEFORE MOVING TO SNOWDIN. ALSO I DOUBT THIS NAIAD WOMAN IS STILL ALIVE.” As if to prove his point the next page had a lone picture of Naiad in the very center. Underneath was a pair of dates along with a short inscription:

“Nana” Naiad  
Beloved friend and surrogate grandmother  
You will be dearly missed

“Oh, that answers one question: surrogate grandmother.” Undyne supposed that was the best explanation they were going to get until Sans woke up.

“I WISH I COULD REMEMBER HER, SHE CLEARLY MEANT A LOT TO SANS.” He turned the page, the first picture was Papyrus and Sans standing in front of their current home, though obviously Papyrus was much, much smaller back then. His sharp fangs pulled into an almost gentle smile, “MY EARLIEST MEMORY WAS RUNNING AROUND THE HOUSE SCREAMING, I DON’T THINK WE HAD MOVED IN ANY FURNITURE YET. I WAS PROBABLY EXCITED TO HAVE ALL THAT ROOM COMPARED TO THAT CRAMPED LITTLE APARTMENT.”

Undyne just nodded, and if that was his earliest memory it would make sense that he didn’t remember the other apartment at all, something big like a move could do that to a child’s memories.

Papyrus kept turning the pages and things started looking familiar to Undyne. This house, Snowdin, Papyrus quickly getting bigger as the photos seemed to be taken less and less often. She guessed after Sans moved them out here he started only taking them for special occasions: Papyrus’s birthdays, the first day of school, Sans measuring Papyrus’s ever increasing height. The last picture was from only a few months ago, when Papyrus turned 18 and finally became a member of the Royal Guard.

“How does Sans keep taking these pictures?” Undyne figured Papyrus should know the answer to that at least since he should remember getting the last few taken.

“CAMERA WITH A TIMER ON A TRIPOD, NO IDEA WHERE HE GOT THEM BUT HE SEEMS TO HAVE HAD THEM FOR A WHILE. WHAT I DON’T UNDERSTAND IS WHERE THIS ALBUM EVEN CAME FROM? HE’S CLEARLY STILL ADDING PICTURES TO IT BUT SOMEHOW I’VE NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE??? IT’S NOT LIKE THIS IS EVEN THE FIRST TIME I’VE CLEANED HIS ROOM.”

“I don’t think I saw any cameras or tripods in there either, is there a closet or something you guys put stuff you don’t use often?”

“THERE IS ONE PLACE…” Papyrus gently placed the album aside before getting up and climbing the stairs. Undyne followed him up and watched as he dug around in one of Sans’s dresser drawers until he pulled out a shiny silver key. Then she followed him as he wordlessly marched back down the stairs, out the front door, and around the house to the back.

“Whoa, I didn’t know you guys had anything back here.”

Papyrus used the key to open a plain white door. “I FORGET IT’S BACK HERE HALF THE TIME, I DON’T REALLY USE THE BASEMENT.” Papyrus went down a short flight of steps into a dark space. He flipped a switch and the space lit up… well mostly. The light didn’t seem to reach the far wall. Undyne squinted, was that a wall?

Papyrus was already opening drawers under a counter that was inset in the wall. Just behind him was a sheet over something large and squarish, it was hard to tell with the sheet over it. Undyne wandered over to try to get a better look. Papyrus sighed, seemingly finding nothing in the drawers, then he turned and walked further into the room. Lights flickered and came to life as he walked, lighting up the space around him. Undyne rubbed her eye and squinted as she followed, maybe it was her lack of depth perception or maybe it was the way the lights came on but it felt like the room couldn’t be this big, like it was getting bigger as he walked?

Undyne shook her head and chose to focus on looking around herself as she trailed after Papyrus. The smooth linoleum floor and tiled walls gave off a sterile feeling that left Undyne’s skin crawling. Papyrus stopped in front of two tall filing cabinets side by side against the wall. Undyne stopped right next to him and leaned down to read the labels.

> Test Subject WDG 102  
>  Medical History
> 
> Test Subject WDG 102  
>  Modifications
> 
> Test Subject WDG 102 – A  
>  Prenatal

Undyne’s eye lingered over the third one rather than continuing onto the next drawer. Prenatal? Someone was doing some kind of breeding experiments?

“TEST SUBJECT?” Papyrus asked as he opened the top drawer and pulled out the first file. “WHEN DID SANS HAVE TEST SUBJECTS?”

“Wait, you think Sans had test subjects? Is he into this science shit?” Undyne stood straight and leaned closer so she could look at the file.

He hadn’t opened it yet, he turned his attention to her and sighed. “OF COURSE, THOUGH I THOUGHT HE WAS MORE INTERESTED IN THEORETICAL SCIENCES RATHER THAN ANYTHING THAT WOULD REQUIRE TEST SUBJECTS. IN FACT HE TAUGHT ME…” Papyrus paused, then side eyed Undyne, “SOME RATHER INTERESTING TRICKS THAT I PROMISED NOT TO REVEAL. FAMILY SECRETS, I SUPPOSE.”

“Family secrets like hidden photo albums and basement labs.”

“THE BASEMENT ISN’T A SECRET, UNDYNE, I’VE KNOWN ABOUT IT FOR AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER.” He sighed and rolled his eyes at her. “THOUGH TO BE HONEST, IT LOOKS VERY DIFFERENT THAN IT DID THE LAST TIME I WAS DOWN HERE. IT USED TO BE SOLID CONCRETE.”

“That’s… weird.”

“PERHAPS HE REMODELED WHILE I WASN’T PAYING ATTENTION, THERE WAS THAT MONTH HE DIDN’T HAVE A JOB BUT WAS STILL PRETENDING TO GO TO WORK EVERY DAY.”

“A month doesn’t seem like long enough to turn concrete into this.” Undyne motioned at the tiled walls.

“BEFORE THAT THEN. AS I SAID, I DON’T COME DOWN HERE OFTEN.”

Undyne thought that was strange, not Papyrus not going down to their basement often, but Sans somehow overhauling the whole thing without Papyrus noticing. And why would he even need to?

He finally opened the file and Undyne leaned in close again to look at it. Her eye was drawn to a photo paper clipped to the corner: a tiny skeleton child with hazy red eyes wearing literal rags and covered in dirt and bruises, their bones so thin it looked like a sharp sneeze would dust them.

“OH MY GOD!” Undyne flinched at the way Papyrus’s already loud voice shouted next to her, then echoed back strangely. “ **SANS** WAS THE TEST SUBJECT!”

Undyne’s eye snapped back to the paper, only now noticing it seemed to be a form with information filled in, including the test subject’s name. Then she looked down at the other drawers, suddenly the “prenatal” label seemed way more ominous. With a shaking hand she reached for the drawer and pulled out the first file. Papyrus was saying something, but Undyne was too focused on the file she was opening to pay him any attention. She took a deep breath, then looked down at it. The first thing she noticed was another picture paper clipped to the first page. It was Sans, looking just like he did in the first photo from the album, only in this one he was wearing perfectly clean, new medical scrubs. He was lifting his shirt to show off faintly glowing ghost flesh spanning from his ribs down to disappear in his pants.

“UNDYNE… WHAT’S THAT?” Papyrus asked carefully, as if afraid the paper would bite him.

“Prenatal.”

“WHAT?”

“The third drawer is marked ‘prenatal,’ that means a baby before it’s born.”

“OH MY GOD! _**I**_ WAS A TEST SUBJECT?!?!” Papyrus wobbled and Undyne reached out to steady him, not that she was much use as she felt rather wobbly herself.

“I don’t understand,” Undyne said as if lost, “this is… all of this… it’s SUPER ILLEGAL! WHO THE FUCK…?!” The anger coursing through Undyne’s veins grounded her, she closed the file she was holding with a faint, unsatisfying snap. “WHO MAKES KIDS INTO TEST SUBJECTS?! WHO’S **DUMB** ENOUGH TO DO **ANYTHING** TO KIDS EVER, LET ALONE KEEP NOTES LIKE THIS?! If Asgore ever found out he’d… he’d… NGAHHHH!!!” Undyne had to restrain herself from ripping up the evidence in her hands or suplexing the cabinets full of more evidence, so she resorted to just punching the wall. The tile cracked under her onslaught and a few chips fell to the floor. “How old was Sans in that first file?”

Papyrus looked down at the paper, “NINE. NO… SEVEN? THE SEVEN IS CROSSED OUT AND THERE’S A NINE NEXT TO IT.”

“So they thought he was seven and later found out he was nine, but either way that’s a child! A small child!! Who should have been in stripes!!!” Undyne roared again, she was so mad she couldn’t even see straight. “WHO DID THIS?! I’LL DUST THEM WITH MY BARE HANDS!” There was a hand on her shoulder.

“UNDYNE, BREATHE FOR A MOMENT. CLEARLY I WASN’T BORN IN THIS… THAT… WHATEVER PLACE THAT WAS WITH WHOEVER DID THIS TO SANS. MAYBE IT’S ALREADY BEEN DEALT WITH?”

Undyne closed her eye and took several deep breaths, “Yeah, you got a point. Okay, listen, we’re gonna… we’re gonna put these back, okay? Let’s… let’s just go calm down and deal with this like rational adults.”

“A VERY REASONABLE THING TO DO.”

Undyne hastily crammed the file back into its drawer and gently slammed it shut, then Papyrus did the same. “Shit man, your bro-… moth-… Sans was hiding some fucked up shit from you.”

“IT WOULD SEEMS SO.” Papyrus wrung his hands, something she hadn’t seen him do in over a year. “BUT! IF HIM WANTING TO SHOW ME THE ALBUM MEANS ANYTHING IT’S THAT HE WAS GOING TO FINALLY TELL ME.”

“Yeah… yeah he was. Guess that means you’re all grown up,” Undyne said with what she hoped was a cheeky grin.

“OF COURSE, I AM LEGALLY AN ADULT AFTER ALL.”

“Yeah ya are! C’mere, legally an adult!” Undyne grabbed Papyrus’s neck and pulled him into a tight embrace.

“AUGH! UNDYNE! STOP NOOGYING THE SKELETON!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is incredibly illegal to ever hurt a kid, you think any version of Asgore wouldn't go on a rampage if a kid got hurt? Man, I can't imagine there'd be anyone stupid or cocky enough to think they'd be above the law and safe from Asgore's rage. 
> 
> As for the stripes: I personally feel like Monster Kid's line in the game about only children wearing striped shirts is a throw away line, possibly just a reference to the Mother/Earthbound series (which every last one of us should already know Toby Fox is a fan of). But the fandom wide acceptance of children dressed in stripes is convenient and the explanation of "monster children come in all shapes and sizes, some sort of dress code makes it easier to tell who's what" makes sense. Especially in an AU like Underfell. But as we all know teenagers don't wear stripes! Instead they wear uniforms to school, so it's also not a good idea to attack anyone in a school uniform, even if legally that's more of a gray area (as in it really all boils down to what kind of mood Asgore's in when you get caught).


	6. America's Funniest Home Videos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus found some old home videos, so he and Undyne sit down to watch them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this chapter: alcohol abuse, child abuse, medical/scientific abuse, implied age difference relationship.

Undyne’s search into the Royal Guard records had given her nothing, no raid on a lab full of children being experimented on, no scientists being charged with any criminal activities, not even anything on Papyrus’s birth. She had assumed when Sans had somehow gotten out that he’d gone to the authorities for help, but if he had there was no evidence for it. That’s what she got for looking for clues without compiling her evidence first.

She knew whatever sick degenerate had gotten their hands on Sans as a child in the first place was unlikely to still be around kidnapping children or whatever, there probably wasn’t anything she could legally do at this point. But she still needed to know. Too many questions, too few answers.

Undyne walked briskly through the snow field next to Papyrus’s house, glaring angrily at the trees on either side. No one seemed ready to jump her today, which was almost a shame, she could use a good fight to blow off some steam. She didn’t even bother knocking on the door, simply burst into the house and slammed the door closed behind her.

“Papyrus! I couldn’t find anything! Not a single mention of scientists or monster test subjects anywhere in the Royal Guard records!”

“REALLY? THAT’S A SHAME… FOR SEVERAL REASONS.” Papyrus was sitting at their dinner table with his reading glasses taped to his head, which could only mean he planned to be reading for a long time. Spread out around him were a couple file folders with their contents splayed out, a glass full of swirling purple liquid, and a half full brown bottle. “HELLO UNDYNE.”

“Hi Papyrus,” Undyne said more as a formality as she walked up to the table. Then she frowned and looked at his face again, it seemed to be… sagging? A little? There were dark circles under his eye holes and the lights within seemed dimmer. She immediately went on guard. “Find anything interesting?”

“I FINALLY KNOW HOW SANS GOT THE SCAR AND GOLD TOOTH.”

“That’s… good???”

“THERE’S EVEN VIDEO, I FOUND A BUNCH OF TAPES YESTERDAY. I’D JUST WATCH THOSE INSTEAD BUT I COULDN’T TAKE THE SCREAMING.”

Undyne flinched, Papyrus usually had a high tolerance for screaming. Well, not really. He would roll his eyes and tell whoever was screaming to suck it up already, but it didn’t usually bother him the way it did some new recruits.

“DID YOU KNOW SANS WAS BORN WITH HIS SHIT STATS?”

“What?” That was a subject change abrupt enough to give her whiplash.

“SANS’S SHIT STATS, YOU KNOW OF THEM, RIGHT?”

“Of course I know of them!”

“WELL HE WAS BORN WITH THEM, THE SHITTIEST POSSIBLE STATS.”

“I uh… I didn’t know that part.”

“NEITHER DID I, BUT I SUPPOSE IT MAKES SENSE. EVEN WITH 7 LV HE STILL HAS THE SHITTIEST POSSIBLE STATS, HOW’S THAT FOR LUCK? EVEN BOGGLED ALL THESE SCIENTISTS.” Papyrus tapped the papers in front of him to emphasize his point.

“Papyrus…” Undyne started.

“OH, YOU SHOULD COME WATCH SOME OF THE VIDEOS WITH ME. NOT ALL OF THEM HAVE SCREAMING.” Papyrus pulled his glasses off and carefully set them on the papers on the table. He went into the kitchen and grabbed a glass, then came back out into the main room and picked up his glass and the bottle before shoving everything at Undyne. She scrambled to keep any of them from falling. Without another word Papyrus headed out the front door and Undyne hastily ran after him.

Once down in the basement Papyrus led Undyne past the filing cabinets to a door she hadn’t noticed last time. He opened it, revealing a small space crowded with floor to ceiling shelves crammed full of old cassette video tapes with peeling, hand written labels. A single TV screen sat on its own shelf in the very center of the far wall, under it was more shelves with of a black box with a rectangular slot and then more cassettes. Papyrus squinted as he browsed the cassettes, plucked one off its shelf, and put it in the slot. He plopped heavily on the floor, then motioned for Undyne to join him. She sat down and let him take his glass from her before he pressed a button, the TV’s screen jumped to life.

The camera was focused on the same small, too young skeleton from the picture attached to Sans’s paperwork, his bruises standing out all the more against his now clean though still far too thin bones. He was standing in the middle of a concrete room, there were a few training dummies out of focus in the background.

[NOW,] a voice instructed from off screen, [SUBJECT ONE-ZERO-TWO, YOU ARE TO…]

“Who’s talking?” Undyne asked as she sipped the drink she had poured herself, the voice continued to dole out instructions.

“I THINK IT’S THIS WDG GUY THAT HAS HIS INITIALS ALL OVER EVERYTHING,” Papyrus said skeptically. “I HAVEN’T FOUND OUT WHAT HIS ACTUAL NAME IS YET, BUT HE SEEMS TO BE IN CHARGE.”

“He sounds a lot like you.”

“YOU TAKE THAT BACK!” Papyrus suddenly yelled, Undyne flinched at the volume in such a small space. “I DON’T SOUND A THING LIKE THAT ASSHOLE,” he added before sullenly taking a swig of his drink.

“Okay, I take it back…” Undyne said carefully.

[YOU DID VERY WELL, ONE-ZERO-TWO,] WDG said as Undyne started paying attention again.

[i couldn’t s’mon ev’n a s’ngle bull’t…] a child’s small, weak voice said shakily.

[CONSIDERING YOUR CURRENT CONDITION, THAT IS NOT VERY SURPRISING. THIS SESSION WAS MERELY TO ESTABLISH A POINT OF COMPARISON. NOW SINCE YOU BEHAVED SO WELL IMPACT HAS A REWARD FOR YOU.] The young Sans nodded slowly before tiredly walking off screen, a skeletal hand briefly appeared at his back before the video cut.

“A LOT OF THE EARLY VIDEOS ARE LIKE THAT.” Papyrus pushed some buttons and a whirring sound started up. “JUST THEM SEEING WHAT HE CAN DO.” Papyrus’s voice turned very nasal as he sneered out an imitation, “’ _ONE-ZERO-TWO CAN YOU MAKE A BONE? CAN YOU MAKE TWO BONES? MAKE AS MANY BONES AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN. NOW THROW THEM ALL AT THAT LAB MOUSE._ ’ AND SO FAR THIS WDG GUY IS ALWAYS OFF SCREEN. OR AT LEAST IN THE VIDEOS THAT AREN’T DAMAGED OR FADED, WHICH IS A LOT OF THEM.”

“That seems… weird???” Undyne had no ideas on any of that, the basement seemed very clean and well taken care of, the stuff inside shouldn’t be damaged.

“HERE, I’LL SHOW YOU.” Papyrus quickly put away the now rewound tape, then ran a finger along the shelves until he found the one he wanted. It was quickly placed in the TV, Papyrus sat back down next to Undyne as the tape started to play.

The camera was focused on a chair with an older, though still far too young, Sans sitting in it while two people in scrubs strapped his arms and legs down. The chair itself looked to be bolted down to a concrete floor, with similar concrete walls behind it.

The voice that still sounded suspiciously like Papyrus started speaking in a clear, precise manner, [SUBJECT ONE-ZERO-TWO BIWEEKLY EMITTER SESSION NUMBER ZERO-NINE-SIX TAKING PLACE ON TUESDAY THE FOURTEE-…] there was a sigh before WDG started speaking again, this time his voice sounded very annoyed. [SANS, YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD REPEATEDLY NOT TO WEAR THAT SILLY COLLAR TO ANY FORM OF SESSION.]

[oh, oops. guess i forgot,] Sans said as a shit eating grin spread across his face. Despite his head also being strapped down, he angled it back to expose his collared neck the best he could. [and i’m already aaaaaaaaall strapped in, guess you’ll just have to come take it off yourself.] Sans waggled his brow bones in what Undyne could only assume was meant to be a suggestive manner. She glanced at Papyrus, but he was too busy downing his drink to pay her any mind.

There was another deep sigh and undecipherable muttering from the video as a person in a white lab coat walked in front of the camera and towards Sans. There must have been some damage to the tape as the image started to flicker and a few lines appeared. After fiddling with Sans’s neck, the person turned towards the camera. A burn spot bloomed from their head and across the screen until it was completely dark. The muttering continued, getting louder but still undecipherable. Then the muttering stopped, followed shortly by the video returning. [AS I WAS SAYING, TUESDAY THE FOURTEENTH OF…]

“That was really weird,” Undyne said over WDG finally giving the full date.

“YEAH,” Papyrus agreed as he reached for the TV.

“What? Don’t I get to see the ending?”

“THEY SHOOT A LASER BEAM AT HIM FOR A WHILE, THEN CALL HIM A GOOD BOY AND SEND HIM OFF TO BUY A CAKE OR A BURGER OR SOMETHING.”

“A cake?” Undyne raised a brow at Papyrus.

Papyrus sighed, then moved his finger to push a different button. The tape began to move faster, which Undyne could only tell because of the way Sans’s hands were moving. There was a laser pointed right at his chest, she thought she saw a faint glow that could be soul shaped. Papyrus took his finger off the button and the video resumed normal speed.

[-eally good this session,] Sans was saying as he rocked back and forth on his feet.

[YES, YES, YOU MANAGED TO NOT PASS OUT THIS TIME.] WDG sounded bored as he spoke, accompanied by frantic scribbling.

[i think that means i deserve a reward,] Sans said with a cheeky grin.

[I SHALL INFORM THE CAFETERIA YOU AR-]

[aw, come on!] Sans said as he threw his hands up in the air. [i don’t want any of that gross cafeteria food! just give me some g, this new bakery just opened up in hotland and i’ve been dying to try them out.]

[YOU DON’T EVEN LIKE SWEETS.]

[i like anything that isn’t from the cafeteria.] Sans’s comment was met with another deep sigh, then the jingle of coins as a skeletal hand came from off screen to drop some gold into Sans’s hands. [thanks, ga-] The video stuttered for a moment, then came back into focus just as Sans said, [i’ll bring you back a slice,] before he winked and simply vanished from sight.

Undyne barely heard a quiet, [THAT CHILD WILL BE THE DEATH OF ME,] before the video cut out altogether.

“Okay, that was really, really weird,” Undyne said as Papyrus pressed another button and the cassette began whirring again. “And a lot of the tapes are damaged like that?”

“YES, AND A LOT OF THE PAPERWORK TOO. FADED SPOTS, INK SPILLS, DIRT AND SMUDGES, A FEW EVEN LOOK LIKE THEY’VE BEEN CHEWED ON. MAKES ME WONDER WHERE SANS GOT ALL THIS FROM. AND WHEN.”

“He obviously escaped at some point, none of those baby pictures look like they were taken anywhere near that lab. I suppose he went back later to grab his own files?”

“THAT MAKES SENSE, BUT WE WON’T KNOW FOR SURE UNTIL SANS WAKES UP AND CAN ACTUALLY EXPLAIN ALL OF…” Papyrus gestured vaguely to the room around them, and likely the basement as a whole, “THIS.”

“Speaking of,” Undyne said as she leaned closer to speak more softly. “You should go visit him. You’ve been down here the whole time, right? That’s not healthy, man.”

“LIKE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS FUCKED UP SITUATION IS HEALTHY.”

Undyne took the drink Papyrus had refilled from his hand. “I mean it, Sans wouldn’t want this. Go visit him in the hospital, get an update from the doctors-”

“THEY SAID THEY’D CALL IF THERE WERE ANY CHANGES.”

“So? Go check on him anyway, make sure they’re keeping their word about not shipping him off to Alphys.”

“OH, SO WE’RE ON A FIRST NAME BASIS WITH THE ROYAL SCIENTIST NOW?”

Undyne shrugged, “I figured scientists would all know each other, and this WDG guy seems like a scientist. A mad one, but a scientist.”

“YOU… YOU DIDN’T TELL HER ANYTHING ABOUT… THIS,” Papyrus motioned around them again, “DID YOU?”

“Of course not! Well, not directly anyway, certainly no names were mentioned.”

“UNDYNE I THINK… I THINK SANS DOESN’T WANT ANYONE ELSE TO KNOW. SO UNTIL HE WAKES UP AND CAN TELL US EVERYTHING MAYBE YOU SHOULD JUST… NOT TELL… ANYONE.”

Undyne sighed, she had never intended to mention Sans or Papyrus by name, and the implication that she would be so unprofessional hurt. Just a little. Still, Papyrus had a point, if the investigation could hurt either of them or any other surviving victims in any way she needed to be very, very careful how she went about it. That didn’t stop her from adding conditions onto an action she already had every intention of following through on. “Alright, but only if you promise to actually go visit Sans in the hospital.”

“I PROMISE.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't put as much stock into "collaring" being a big deal the way a lot of the fandom likes to make it. I don't know, some people just want to wear collars to look tough or because they're furries or whatever. I do have a reason for Sans wearing a collar here, but I'm not sure how much a spoiler it'd be.
> 
> And hey look, we're half way through! So next week a lot is going to happen!!!


	7. Hospitals are Just the Worst!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans wakes up from a short nap feeling refreshed and energized!

Papyrus scowled at Dr. Rotis, who was clearing his nonexistent throat. “As You Can See, Aside From His Rising HP There Have Been No Changes In Your Brother’s Condition.”

“YES, THAT IS BLATANTLY OBVIOUS.”

“We Had Hoped After It Finally Reached 0.9 That He Was Close To Recovering And Waking Up But…”

One of Papyrus’s orbits twitched, he had Checked Sans’s stats first thing. His HP was at 0.99999999999 and seemed to just be adding more nines onto the end. A quick look at the clipboard at the end of Sans’s bed showed three more had appeared since his stats were last written down. Of course Sans’s recovery was going as slowly and annoyingly as possible!

“I SUPPOSE THERE IS NOTHING TO DO NOW BUT WAIT, JUST AS THERE WAS BEFORE.”

“Clearly. Now If You’ll Excuse Me, I Have Other Patients To Attend To.”

Papyrus motioned to the door, Dr. Rotis rolled his eyelights before leaving. Papyrus would have rolled his own at just how unprofessional the doctor was being, but that would be petty and beneath him. Instead he went back over to the bed and gently picked up Sans’s hand from where it rested over the scratchy hospital blankets.

“HELLO BRO-… SA-… I… I HONESTLY DON’T KNOW WHAT TO CALL YOU ANYMORE, AFTER FINDING THE PHOTO ALBUM AND GOING DOWN TO THE BASEMENT I’M JUST… QUESTIONING EVERYTHING I EVER THOUGHT I KNEW. I SUPPOSE YOU WERE RIGHT, THE ALBUM NEEDED TO WAIT UNTIL WE BOTH HAD A DAY OFF TO PROPERLY GO THROUGH EVERYTHING. INSTEAD I’M TRYING TO LOOK THROUGH IT ALL ON MY OWN AND… AND MAYBE I SHOULDN’T HAVE, I SHOULD HAVE WAITED FOR YOU TO WAKE UP. BECAUSE YOU ARE! GOING TO WAKE UP! I… I HAVE PROOF NOW. THAT THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE, IT’S JUST NORMAL FOR YOU. FOR HOW YOU RECOVER FROM INJURY. NONE OF THE OTHER TIMES TOOK THIS LONG THOUGH AND… AND I MISS YOU SANS. PLEASE JUST… JUST WAKE UP SOON.”

There was a harsh knocking on the door, Papyrus hastily scrubbed at the tears he hadn’t realized were falling until then before shakily calling out, “COME IN.” He heard loud footsteps enter the room and the door shut forcefully, followed by more footsteps approaching him.

“How’s he doing?” Undyne asked as she stepped up to his side.

“THE SAME. BETTER. SOMETHING IN BETWEEN? IT’S HARD TO SAY, HIS HP IS NEARLY BACK TO FULL.”

“Well that’s good news at least.”

Papyrus just nodded as he continued to look down at Sans, his thumb idly tracing over the metacarpals of the tiny hand he still held. The silence stretched out uncomfortably.

“So uh… Impact dusted about four years ago. A bystander in a turf war between two New Home gangs.”

“I THOUGHT YOU WEREN’T GOING TO INVESTIGATE ANY MORE?” Papyrus asked with a growl.

“Nope! I only promised not to tell anyone about the mountains of evidence you literally live on top of, and also not to give out your or his names. Nothing against looking into the names of the assholes who worked for that bastard.”

Papyrus relented with a nod.

“So, got any other names I can go hunting up?”

Papyrus tilted his head as he thought over the names he had learned while reading through reports, a whole laundry list of likely every employee who worked in the place, he even had his grandparents’ names and an address that was probably outdated by now. Not that he wanted to go look them up, but the option was there. He stood a little straighter and turned to face Undyne, “THERE IS ONE NAME…”

“Really? Just one?! Ugh! You’d think you’d have so many names by now!” She threw her arms in the air and started pacing to work off her agitated energy.

“I FOUND OUT WHAT WDG STANDS FOR, OR THE ‘G’ AT LEAST.” That got Undyne’s attention, her head whipped around so fast her hair hit her in the face. She stared at him with her eye wide. “IT WAS HAND WRITTEN IN ONE OF SANS’S MEDICAL REPORTS,” technically it was one of Papyrus’s medical reports, but that wasn’t important, “IN SANS’S HAND WRITING.”

Undyne leaned in closer and ask quietly, “What’s his name?”

“GASTER.”

Sans took a deep breath, like he had just come up for air after being underwater too long, then his breathing smoothed out to deep, even breaths. A stark contrast to the shallow breaths he’d been taking since getting injured. Papyrus ran a quick Check.

* SANS – HP 1/1

“GO GET A DOCTOR,” Papyrus ordered. Undyne quickly left, Papyrus squeezed Sans’s hand and bent closer. “SANS… SANS ARE YOU WAKING UP NOW?”

Sans’s brow furrowed briefly, but his eyes remained closed as his face smoothed back out.

Dr. Rotis and what appeared to be a couple nurses bustled into the room and moved Papyrus out of the way as they began examining Sans. A short eternity later Rotis and one of the nurses left, leaving the other behind to explain the situation.

“Well it looks as if the patient’s HP is finally full again,” the nurse began. Papyrus snorted and rolled his eye lights. “He’s entered a natural sleep, so it’s very likely he’ll wake up on his own soon.”

“AS IF HE DIDN’T GET ENOUGH SLEEP WHILE HE WAS… THAT.” Papyrus waved a hand towards the bed in exasperation.

The nurse frowned, “He wasn’t asleep though. I mean, we’re not sure what that was. It was like he had Fallen Down… but also not. Either way he likely didn’t get any real rest, which he needs to fully recover.”

Papyrus grunted while Undyne struggled to stifle laughter.

“So hopefully,” the nurse continued cheerfully, “he’ll wake up soon. We’ll be keeping an eye on him in the meanwhile.”

“YES, YES, WE UNDERSTAND.” Papyrus scowled as the overly cheerful nurse left the room.

“I suppose this is good news???” Undyne asked with a shrug.

“AT THE VERY LEAST IT’S NOT BAD NEWS.”

“Okay, I’m going to see what I can dig up on this uh… what’d you say his name was again?”

“GASTER.” Papyrus raised a brow at Undyne’s unusual forgetfulness.

“Right, right, I’m gonna see what kind of information I can dig up about him. Call me when he wakes up!” Undyne gave his shoulder a friendly pound before leaving the room. Once she left, Papyrus moved to sit in the uncomfortable chair placed next to the bed and took Sans’s hand again, waiting for him to finally wake up.

 

* * *

 

The next morning Papyrus returned to the hospital with a few file folders tucked under his arm. Once finally signed in and inside Sans’s room he settled into the uncomfortable chair next to the bed, long legs and lanky figure hanging out of it at awkward angles. He pulled his reading glasses from his breast pocket and carefully taped them to the side of his head before picking up the first folder and holding it in one hand while leafing through the pages with the other.

He stopped at a photo and glared down at it. This particular photo featured a young Sans front and center, sporting copious amounts of bandages wrapped around half his skull that didn't hide the bruising peaking past the edges. His wide, happy smile only highlighting the gaping hole where a tooth used to be. Around Sans were several people in white lab coats, likely scientists, and looming over Sans was a pale, faded spot over a colored splotch that may have once been a tie. Papyrus directed his glare solely at that faded spot, he knew exactly who’s face it used to be and every speck of dust within him just hated the man. What he wouldn’t give to have a face to direct that seething hatred at.

He heard Sans shift in his sleep, the soft rustle of fabric in the otherwise silent room enough to snap Papyrus out of his spiraling thoughts. Sans had moved in his sleep quite a lot the evening before, in all likelihood that’s all he was doing now. Papyrus turned the page and resumed skimming through the words.

“… gaster?”

Papyrus looked up with a start, Sans was rolled onto his side and supporting himself on an elbow as he blearily squinted at Papyrus. Sans’s voice had been weak, confused, and sounded so, so young.

Papyrus’s soul clenched painfully as the full implication of what he had just been called hit him. He hastily pulled his glasses off and leaned forward. “NO SANS… IT’S PAPYRUS,” he said softer than he had ever spoken before.

A tired but genuine grin spread across Sans’s face. “heeeeeeey,” his voice sounded more normal this time, even if it was a bit hoarse. “is mah happy pappy.” Papyrus had to suppress a shudder, Sans hadn’t used that embarrassing nickname since he was still in stripes. “wha’ ‘appened? where’re we?”

“WE’RE IN THE NEW HOME HOSPITAL, YOU TOOK ONE HIT TOO MANY AND ALMOST FELL DOWN.”

“heh, takes mer ‘n that t’ keep me down.” Despite how Sans was slurring his words, his voice was getting stronger.

“HOW… ARE YOU FEELING?” Papyrus set aside the folders in his lap and scooted his chair a little closer.

“like utter shit, an’ the surroundin’s ain’t helpin’ any. c’n we jus’ go ‘ome?”

Papyrus tilted his head in thought for a moment, then nodded. “I’LL GO TALK TO THE DOCTORS.”

Sans fell back against his pillow in surprise, he honestly hadn’t expected Papyrus to agree so readily. He fully expected him to scold Sans and order him to stay there until the doctors released him. Angel above, he must’ve been in bad shape for Papyrus to give in like that. Or maybe it was the opposite? Sans’ wasn’t sure, either way he was a bit worried. It took all his willpower not to pluck at the IV attached to him or worry at the sheets with his claws. Eventually Papyrus returned with a pile of clothes in his arms and a nurse trailing worriedly behind him.

“Are you really sure?” the nurse asked in concern. “I mean, we still don’t understand what even happened to him in the first place. He should stay under observation until he’s strong enough to be released.”

“WE’RE QUITE SURE,” Papyrus said firmly. He glared at the nurse until they unhooked Sans from the IV and left. It took a bit of time and some help from Papyrus for Sans to get changed, but he was glad to say his legs were firmly under him by the time they were ready to leave. Then there was all the paperwork they had to sign. Sans hated it, it was stupid and pointless and would just sit moldering in some filing cabinet somewhere never to be read or looked at again. He knew from personal experience.

Then they were finally leaving the hospital. Once outside Sans motioned toward a nearby alleyway, “this way, i know a shortcut.”

“SHOULD WE REALLY BE TAKING YOUR SHORTCUTS WHEN YOU JUST WOKE UP LESS THAN AN HOUR AGO AND ARE STILL RECOVERING?”

“nah, it’s fine. it’ll take less effort than walkin’ all the way ‘cross the entire underground.”

Papyrus sighed, but for the second time that day gave in and followed Sans to the alley’s mouth. They passed into the shadows and out again just inside their front door. Sans paused, staring at the number of file folders and papers spread out over the table. His eyelights winked out and his shoulders sagged before he sighed heavily and closed his eyes as he ran a hand over his skull.

“guess you got a lotta questions fer me.”

“YES!” Papyrus blurted out like he had been holding in the questions for the entire trip home, which was a good possibility. “YOU’RE REALLY MY MOTHER? WHO WAS NAIAD? WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME ANY OF THIS SOONER? WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THOSE SCIENTISTS THAT WERE EXPERIMENTING ON YOU? UNDYNE COULDN’T FIND ANY RECORDS OF ARRESTS. HOW DID YOU EVEN ESCAPE?”

“whoa, whoa… slow down. can’t answer everythin’ at once.” Sans held his hands up to ward off any more of Papyrus’s questions while Papyrus took several deep breaths. “and i didn’t escape, that was the last thing i wanted to do at the time.”

“WHAT?! YOU WANTED TO BE A TEST SUBJECT? AND YOU CLEARLY GOT OUT AT SOME POINT, I DOUBT THOSE SCIENTISTS JUST LET YOU WANDER OFF.”

“i didn’t want to be a test subject, but compared to the life i was livin’ before it was practically heaven. three meals a day, a shower every night-”

“YOU DON’T EVEN LIKE SHOWERS.”

“clean clothes,” Sans continued as if he hadn’t just been interrupted, “a whole team of scientists whose job was keepin’ me alive and healthy… the only drawback was occasionally there were accidents that uh… well it felt like i was dyin’. probably because i was. a little.”

“AND YOU DIDN’T WANT TO ESCAPE THAT? THEN WHY DID YOU EVEN LEAVE? AND WHO IS THIS NAIAD PERSON? WHERE WERE WE EVEN LIVING?”

“well shit, ya got the story out of order, i had this whole thing planned out.”

“SO TELL ME THE STORY NOW.”

“alright, alright, just… gimme a minute. okay, first let’s get some snacks and maybe a coupla drinks and go sit on the couch, it’s a long story and i’m still feelin’ pretty shitty from wakin’ up in a god damned hospital.”

Papyrus nodded and strode into the kitchen. While he was gathering supplies Sans threw himself on the couch and tiredly ran his hands down his face. By the time Papyrus came back out Sans had relaxed into a comfortable slouch. Papyrus set their food down and handed Sans a soda before sitting himself down next to him.

“soda? really?”

“YES, REALLY. YOU LITERALLY JUST WOKE UP FROM A WEEK LONG… DEEP UNSLEEP?”

“nearly a week? must be some kinda new record. and the medical term is a ‘coma’.”

“A WHAT?”

“yeah, it’s the human equivalent of fallin’ down, only a lotta the time humans get back up so they just call it a coma instead. apparently it’s common for monsters who’re dosed with small amounts of human soul extract.”

“HUMAN WHAT NOW?”

“bro, you’ve read the reports. the h.s.e. was pretty early on.”

“I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT IT STOOD FOR.”

“do ya want me to explain every little bit of scientific jargon or do ya want me to tell the story?”

“STORY, PLEASE.”

“okay then.” Sans sipped some of his soda, then looked down at his lap. “my oldest memory is when i was four years old-”

“WHAT?”

“that’s how the story starts.”

“I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO START THE STORY WITH THE BABY BOOK???”

“eh, ya already seen it. it’ll flow better this way, just trust me.”

Papyrus grumbled and crossed his arms, but otherwise didn’t protest any further.

“my oldest memory is when i was four years old and my parents were kickin’ me outta the house. called me weak and useless, told me they was tired of waitin’ for me to dust, that i wasn’t worth the effort.” Sans paused and slumped deeper into the couch, Papyrus snuck an arm over his shoulders to pull him into a comforting half hug. “i lived on the streets fer a while, a lot of it blurs together but i can still remember the broad strokes. it was… really tough. then when i was nine my luck ran out and i finally got caught by the royal guard. the next thing i know i’m fourteen and somewhere in the middle of hotland.”

“WAIT, WHAT?!”

“again with the interruptions.”

“YOU’RE SKIPPING OVER THE PART I HAVE THE MOST QUESTIONS ABOUT, AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE NEXT THING YOU KNOW? DON’T YOU REMEMBER ANY OF THIS…” Papyrus pulled the file folders from his inventory and waved them angrily around, “THIS TEST SUBJECT SHIT?”

“well i do now, but i didn’t then. i told ya you got everythin’ out of order. it’s like… it’s like i just woke up one day from a daze and there was this big hole in my memory that i couldn’t explain…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I haven't talked about the bone names yet! Personally I HC that monster skeletons aren't like human skeletons, not entirely. A lot of (if not the entirety of) our skeletal structure developed specifically for other flesh (tendons and muscle) to be attached to, which a skeleton born just to be a skeleton wouldn't really NEED. And heck, Sans's skull isn't really shaped like a human skull at all. So honestly if people want to simplify how they draw the skelebros I not only understand I fully support! And even if a skeleton monster looks just like a human skeleton there's no reason they would use the same names for bones that we do, but like with curse words and other cultural stuff it's easier and more recognizable for the audience if I just use the accepted scientific names. It really does help with the mood I'm trying to set (namely who does or does not use the medical names).
> 
> As for the H.S.E. I kind of "borrowed" this one from _[It's Raining Right Here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11118105/chapters/24815064)_ by [kaliawai512.](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaliawai512/pseuds/kaliawai512) Since "DT" is a term Alphys came up with it makes sense that Gaster probably gave it a different name, kaliawai used SE in their fic and well... it's too perfect. I just can't come up with something different that comes even close to being half as good. I just appended an H onto the beginning.


	8. A Trip Down Memory Lane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get a flashback to when Sans was younger and Papyrus wasn't even born yet. Poor Sans spends most of the time being profoundly confused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this chapter: teen pregnancy and Mpreg

Sans blinks his eyes rapidly as he stumbles to a halt, he feels weirdly off balanced and confused. He looks around himself… Hotland. Strange, why is he in Hotland? Terrible for pick pocketing, not enough monsters to target, not enough crowds to lose yourself in, and not enough buildings to hide between. He feels a strange sensation from his… middle??? and looks down. He sees a loose, pale green shirt covering a swell that hides his feet from view. Sans lifts his free hand, his other one seems to be clutching something, and touches the swell. He shivers at the foreign feeling of something touching summoned pseudo-flesh. Then he feels some sort of strange movements… from inside.

Holy shit, he’s pregnant?!?!

Sans stumbles to stay standing, the realization leaves his head reeling and with his balance thrown off by his huge, **pregnant** belly Sans finds it hard to stay upright. Fortunately there’s a wall nearby and he manages to stumble over to it before he can collapse altogether. He leans against the wall and gasps like a dying fish for a while.

“it’s okay sans, just calm down a little, you can figure this out.” The encouragement he’s giving himself seems to help, he slowly calms down enough to finally take stock of his situation. “okay, the best thing to do right now is… figure out what you do know, hopefully remember what the fuck is going on.” Sans closes his eyes and starts going over everything he does know.

His name is Sans, he’s fourteen years old… wow, fourteen? Shit that’s… that’s pretty young to be knocked up. He puts his free hand to his belly and starts to gently rub it, the kid inside is kicking and squirming pretty hard and he hopes the attention will calm them down. Okay, his last clear memory is getting caught by the Royal Guard when he was… nine. Huh, seems he actually figured out his age at some point. But clearly some time had passed since then and _something_ had happened. He furrows his brow as he tries harder to remember.

Somewhere brightly lit and cold and sterile ~~how does he even know what “sterile” means?~~ , people in white lab coats ~~doctors?~~ , lining up with other children ~~for food?~~ Yes, for food ~~an orphanage? do those even exist in the Underground?~~ Safety, loneliness, eating, annoyance, comfort, pain, intense pain, oh god make it stop make the pain stop **please**!

Sans gasps as he comes back to himself, the baby now kicking hard enough to make him feel queasy. “ugh, not going to do that again.” He puts his hand up to his face where the pain seems worst and is surprised when his claws run over a strange uneven spot near his left orbit. ~~“Orbit”? Why not just call it an “eye socket”? Wait… eye “socket”?! It’s just his eye for fuck’s sake!~~ He feels over his face again, there’s a scar. It runs from the top of his… his **eye** to about his **forehead** , and also down from the bottom of his eye to where it connects with his mouth and a strange feeling tooth. He feels around the tooth a bit more, that’s not enamel. He taps it and the resulting sound is metallic. A replacement tooth. Whoa! Those are expensive! If you were lucky whoever it had been stolen from had similar teeth to your own and you might even get it wedged pretty firmly in there. Sans taps it again, then feels around the fake tooth. It seems pretty solidly attached, and it doesn’t even seem to be wedged in, it lines up perfectly with his other teeth.

It was custom made for his own mouth.

He hadn’t stolen it from some back alley dealer, someone had paid to get him a custom fit replacement tooth. Who would do that? Had his parents taken him back in? He shudders at the thought and immediately decides to forget it. Had he been adopted? Or had he… Sans glances down at his round belly, had he found a sugar daddy? That’s a thought he isn’t sure he’s ready to deal with.

He decides to check the rest of his person instead. He lifts up the hand holding something, it turns out to be a plain paper bag held by the rolled down top. He unrolls it and peeks inside: two burger shaped paper packages over what looks like a bed of fries. Damn, that looks so good, and he is pretty hungry. But… how had he paid for these? Were they stolen? If so, how had he gotten away when he’s not sure he can even walk properly? When would he eat again? He’s pretty sure he’s been getting regular meals up to now, so surely someone is taking care of him, right? He rolls the bag back up, unfortunately all he can do for now is hold it and that’s a pretty reckless thing to do. Anyone could run by and just grab it out of his hand. He sighs, he really doesn’t have any other choice unless his pants have huge ass pockets.

Speaking of, he puts his free hand into the corresponding pocket and feels around. There’s the clink of metal on metal, a few coins. Sans fishes as much as he can out and looks down into his hand. He’s of two minds: one side of him is disappointed in having what only amounts to pocket change while the other side is elated he has a slow afternoon’s worth of pick pocketing right there. That’s an odd dichotomy. ~~“Dichotomy”?! The fuck, why does he sound like one of those snooty New Home monsters that were always wandering around Hotland?~~

~~He’s not thinking about how he knows they’re there because they work in Hotland.~~

Sans shoves the coins back in his pocket, switches which hand is holding the bag, then digs into the other pocket. There’s only one thing inside, he pulls it out to see it’s one of those expensive cellular phones. A fancy flip phone too! It even has a button on the side that flips it open. ~~He’s not thinking about how he knows that even without looking, it’s his phone after all.~~ ~~Probably.~~ ~~He’s also not thinking about where or how he could have possibly gotten it.~~ He opens the phone, the screen lighting up when he does so. There are a few options, but all but the top one are glitched out and displaying gibberish. The top option is for contacts though, that’s promising. He selects that one. There’s a short list of names, most of them just as glitched out as the menu options had been.

Well, nothing to do but try. Sans selects the first name, it’s nothing but a string of broken letters, and puts the phone up to his ear hole ~~he is not thinking “external acoustic meatus”~~. Rather than ring it lets out a static filled screech that has Sans jumping out of his metaphorical skin, then the phone shuts off. It takes a moment for Sans to realize what had just happened, then he quickly presses the power button. “no, no, no! turn back on please turn back on. please, please, please, i need you!”

To his relief the phone does turn back on. Sans sighs in relief and sags against his wall. It takes all of his will power not to let himself slide down it, he isn’t sure he can get up again in his condition. Once the menu comes back up he selects the contacts again, this time he goes for the second name, the only one that isn’t a glitched out mess.

The phone rings twice, then is picked up. “Hello?”

“hi uh… is there a verdana there?”

“Nope, never heard the name before.” The voice from the other end sounds a little annoyed, like they’re straining to remain polite.

“wait, don’t hang up yet. i uh… it’s just… is there anyone there who knows a sans?”

“The fuck kind of prank call is this?” The call ends with a soft click.

Sans sighs and slumps a little further down the wall. Well, that was a bust, but there are other names on the list… sort of. The next one is only half glitched out: F▓li▓. Half a name is better than none, he guesses.

“We’re sorry, the number you are trying to reach either has not yet been registered or has been disconnected. Please hang-”

Sans huffs and hits the end call button in disgust. There were two other half glitched names on the list, Sans is pretty sure they’re going to be just as useless as the other three, but he has to try.

The first one rings once, “The number you are trying to reach has not yet set up their voicemail. Goodbye.”

The other just rings and rings and rings and rings… shouldn’t it have gone to an answering machine or voicemail by now? Eventually Sans gives up and ends the call on his own. He holds the phone over his head, arm shaking slightly. After a moment he unceremoniously shoves the phone back in his pocket with a grumbled, “worthless hunk of silicone and aluminum.” ~~He isn’t thinking about how he knows what the phone is made of.~~ “Okay, I was obviously heading somewhere before i sponta-… **suddenly** lost my memory. so i was going… that way?” He pushes himself off the wall and starts walking down the path. After a few minutes of walking he rounds a corner and the path dead ends on an elevator. “well shit, they all have like a _million_ buttons, i could have been trying to get _anywhere_!”

He steps inside anyway. He looks over the control panel, his phala- **finger** hovering over this button or that…

“You gonna pick a floor or just stand there all day?” an annoyed voice asks.

Sans whirls around to see an angry looking Pyrope glaring at him. “er… sorry.” Sans meekly shuffles past the monster and out of the elevator.

“Fuckin’ pampered idiot,” The Pyrope mutters as the door closes behind them.

“okay, this is… this is still salvageable. i got this bag from somewhere, maybe i’m a regular and they can tell me something about myself?” He turns on his aching feet ~~he’s not thinking of a tuneless song that named all the bones in his feet~~ and starts back in the direction he had come from.

Eventually he reaches an area with a few familiar looking buildings, mostly restaurants, arranged in a circle around an open area with a few tables and chairs. There’s no logo on the bag or wrappers, most businesses can’t afford the kind of branding that seems so common on the Surface ~~and Sans is definitely not thinking about how he could possibly know anything about the Surface!~~ , but there’s only one place that seems to have burgers on their menu. Sans walks up to the counter and shyly greets the monster standing behind it.

“Why’re you back already?” the bored employee asks in irritation. “You’re not getting anything else unless you wanna cough up the gold for it.”

“so this might be a weird question, but do you know anything about me?”

The employee looks confused, “Might be? That’s a really fucking weird question! Why would I know anything about you? Why would you even ask?”

“i just… i can’t remember. it’s like someone just ripped the last few years right out of my head and i suddenly have no idea where i am or how i got here or where i was going and the only clues i got are a couple burgers and a busted phone. i got the burgers here, right?”

“Shit dude, that’s fucked up. Yeah, you got them here, you get stuff here sometimes, not like a regular thing. I don’t know a thing about you except that you seem to have a thing for mustard and you’re NOT getting any more by coming up with some sort of weird sob story.” The employee’s face twists into a glare at the end of his tirade.

“that’s it? no idea where i live or even if it’s close or anything that’s actually useful?”

“Not my fault you don’t chit chat. Now, if you aren’t buying something else then piss off, there’s a line forming behind you.”

Sans glances behind him, a couple monsters are frowning at him. He looks back at the scowling employee, then behind him at the other monsters working behind the counter. They’re all staring at him, but quickly turn away and pretend to get back to work. Sans steps away from the counter and waddles over to one of the tables where he collapses into a chair. Of course that was a bust, who in their right mind would tell a random burger slinger where they lived? And god is he hungry, when had he even eaten last? Breakfast had been hours ago and he hasn’t had even a snack since then. Wait… what? He remembered something! What had he eaten? … Ugh! He can’t remember, of course!

Sans huffs and pulls one of the burgers from the bag and starts eating. He may as well, angel above knew when he’d get more food if he can’t figure out where the fuck he lives, and he needs to eat. The acrobatics going on in his middle are a constant reminder of that.

Maybe if he’s lucky when he doesn’t show up wherever he was heading someone will call his phone and they can answer some of his questions, or at least tell him how to get wherever he lives. But does he just wait here in the hopes of that or go back to trying to find his way around? How long can he wander around lost before someone decides he’s easy EXP and just dusts him? The Underground is dangerous, he’s been warned of that so many times but he still insists on wandering around without a care in the world even when he’s in such a defenseless condition. Sans stares down at his half eaten burger, he’s still starving but the anxiety is killing his appetite. The kid angrily attacking his spine like some sort of punching bag makes up his mind. He forces himself to keep eating and turns his thoughts towards something more productive.

He can’t just sit around hoping, if someone calls he’ll have his phone with him so wandering around isn’t going to hurt that. The best thing to do would be to search around and hope something else looks familiar the way this group of restaurants did. With elevators all over Hotland he can easily cover a lot of ground in only a little time. Mind made up, Sans shoves the rest of the burger in his face, then gets up and walks back towards the elevator again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We get a bit of a look at what normal, every day life is like in the Underfell Underground. I figure even if it's a "kill or be killed" world, most of that is the really powerful people being all ruthless and cut throat. Your average every day Joe? Just wants to live their life in peace even if they have to put up an aggressive front to get to and from work every day. 
> 
> What I'm really trying to go for is the difference between a Tale universe and a Fell universe is the difference between a small town and a big city. In a small town everyone knows everyone and is friendly, if it's rural enough everything is slow paced and everyone stops to talk to each other (very Gilmore Girls). In a big city everyone is just trying to mind their own business and don't have time to stop and chit chat with every stranger they meet, they do things like wear giant headphones so no one tries to talk to us and will ignore most of the other people they meet. Underfell just also has this layer of rudeness/aggression being a cultural norm. This is just a general statement though, and clearly doesn't apply to every individual.
> 
> Also this is only the first half of the flashback, it was so big I had to split it in two. Next week: the thrilling conclusion! (of just the flashback)


	9. Turns Out Memory Lane Sucks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The flashback continues, along with Sans's misery. Fortunately he finally gets a stroke of good luck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for: Vomit, teen pregnancy, and Mpreg.
> 
> Posting this a day early partly as a Thanksgiving gift to y'all and partly as a "I have to get up at the fuck crack of dawn and don't want to deal with posting this on top of driving to the next town over for work at ass o'clock in the morning"

It’s been a few days since Sans woke up with sudden onset partial amnesia (and fuck it, he’s just so tired of denying his own thoughts so he may as well just roll with it) and he was absolutely miserable. Wandering around Hotland hadn’t sparked his memory at all, it had just worn him out until he ended up curled up next to an old, abandoned laboratory where he polished off his food and slept for the night. The next day he decided to head to territory he did remember from living on the streets: New Home. It had been simple enough to take a ride on the elevator from the Core to New Home, he still looked rather presentable in his mostly clean, new-ish clothes. That wasn’t going to last long.

He had already gone through what little change had been in his pockets, and with a baby weighing him down and ruining his balance there was no way he could make a clean getaway for pick pocketing or stealing, so he had resorted to dumpster diving. That had ended poorly, no one threw away good food. **Ever**. If you were young, healthy, and desperate something bad enough to be thrown away wasn’t going to kill you… probably. But what little Sans had managed to scavenge just made him sick enough to puke, a waste of food and his dwindling magic reserves.

Clean get away or not, he has nothing left to try. So here Sans is, he eyes an outdoor shop full of fresh produce. Well, fresh enough when monster food doesn’t spoil. He’s waiting for the shop keep to be distracted, which looks to be about now. Someone else is browsing the wares and seems to want to haggle, they’re making comments about bruises and blemishes. Sans slips from his hiding spot and casually strolls up to one of the stands full of fruit and looks it over. A quick glance at the shop keep assures him she’s distracted by arguing loudly with the haggler. Sans grabs a few pieces of fruit and covertly stuffs them in his pockets. He looks over the other selections, hums, shakes his head, and turns to walk away. That’s when the screaming starts.

“Hey! You’re gonna pay for those!”

“shit,” Sans mutters to himself. He tries to disappear into the crowd, but he doesn’t quite make it. A hand grabs his shirt collar and pulls him harshly back.

“I know you heard me, you little punk! Guards! Thief!”

Sans chokes as his shirt is yanked around, and to his dismay the crowd around him pulls away, leaving him exposed and trapped. Sans knocks the hand away and spins to face his accuser.

“GUARDS!!” she screams at the top of her lungs.

Sans can hear the rattling thumps of armored boots approaching, he looks to the crowd to see a bunch of sneering, leering faces and knows they’ll just throw him at the guards’ feet. He hunches in on himself, the fear almost overwhelming. Not the Royal Guard, not again, god what if he wakes up another five years from now with no memory again? A hand goes to his scarred orbit as pain and warmth blooms from it.

A moment of dark so pitch black it’s blinding, vertigo, falling, floating, wrong, this isn’t…

His skull is ringing. Sans trips over something tangling his feet, he puts a hand out to a nearby wall ~~where had that come from?~~ and manages to slide down it rather than fall. He’s on his knees, he’s on his side, he’s fighting to stay conscious but he’s suddenly beyond exhausted and can’t keep his orbits open.

Some time later he groggily comes to. It takes a moment for Sans to fully wake up, he feels as if he’s just attacked something or someone with everything he’s got and his magic is so low it’s painful. Without even bothering to sit up or fully open his orbits he digs a piece of fruit out of his pocket and starts eating. The first pangs of hunger sated, he finally takes a moment to take stock. His skull is still ringing and aches like a mother fuck (heh, he should know about that), especially the scarred orbit. Though the ringing is starting to die down, it’s not as loud as when whatever first happened… happened. And the kid is kicking up a fuss. He takes another bite of his pilfered crab apple.

He finally opens his orbits and sits up as he continues to eat. Surprisingly he’s not in Royal Guard custody, he’s in a grungy back alley with a pile of blankets he fortunately landed in. They’re scratchy as hell and covered in a layer of grit and rock dust, probably from the cavern’s ceiling, but otherwise they seem new, clean, and untouched. The alley itself looks like a hidden back corner that happened to form as buildings had walls built around them. There’s one wall that seems to be newer, made from a different color stone.

There are no visible ways in or out.

“huh, that’s weird.” How did he even get in here? Where even is here? It’s quiet, which is nice, the sounds of city life distant and muffled. He’s done with the apple now, core and all. He tosses the last bits that even he can’t absorb and then immediately goes digging in his pockets for another, this one’s a star fruit. As he eats he takes the rest of the fruit out and counts how much he managed to grab, not near enough. But he can probably stay here for a little while and figure this all out. After all no ways in or out and walls high enough that he can’t even see the windows of the buildings on the other side means no one’s likely to find him. Or even care if they do.

He pulls his phone from his breast pocket, he had moved it there to make more room in his pants pockets for stolen goods. He checks the time, the artificial nature of light in the Underground makes it impossible to tell time without a timepiece of some kind. He thinks it’s been about forty or fifty minutes since he passed out, he’s not sure when exactly that had happened. Maybe after he’s done eating he should just bunk down and go back to sleep, hope his skull will stop hurting after a good night’s rest. Or day’s, he’s not picky. He closes his phone and places it with his fruit off to the side so he won’t accidentally crush them in his sleep. Not that he’ll actually be rolling around with the kid in the way, but better safe than sorry. He sighs as he burrows into the blankets, the little nest they’re piled into is actually not all that uncomfortable and something about it just feels… familiar.

When Sans wakes again he’s feeling much more rested. The pain, the ringing, the strange warmth emanating from his scarred orbit and spreading through his skull are all gone. The kid’s kicking again, he thinks they’re never going to stop at this point and chooses to ignore them over eating some breakfast. By the time he’s eaten his fill there’s just one crab apple left, he stuffs it in his pocket then stares down at his phone. It’s still running, whatever battery it has seems endless, but no one’s tried calling him. No one’s looking for him. Not even… not even…

Damnit all! Why can’t he remember? And what’s he going to do? His clothes are rumpled, dirty, and even have a tear or two at this point, he can’t pass for presentable anymore. Any shop keep that sees him is going to be suspicious. He wouldn’t care if he could afford not to, he’d made do with far less when he was far younger, but the truth is he can’t afford to not care with the kid relying on him. He runs a hand over his belly and gets a few kicks in response.

He can’t pickpocket, he can’t steal, he can’t go digging in the trash, and there’s only so much you can get with panhandling. Granted he’d never tried begging with a baby bump before ~~or ever he thought?? Apparently he had at some point in his missing memory???~~ That might get him more sympathy. Or it might get some nosy wannabe moralists trying to look into his business and send him… somewhere. He’s not sure where but he remembers that kids on the street feared where they would get carted off to if caught by the Royal Guard. And the situation he suddenly found himself in only serves to reinforce that notion. He also feels like the authorities won’t help him, they certainly didn’t when he was a baby himself, crying and abandoned on the streets. What if whoever catches him tries to send him back to his parents? Ugh. Nope. No thank you. He’d rather die.

Not that he’s going to let himself die either.

He shakes himself out of his spiraling thoughts and looks back down at the phone he’s still holding. He flips it open and goes through the menu options. The contacts still has the same short list of glitched out names, the other menu options are still unreadable messes that just lead to more unreadable messes. He goes back to contacts, maybe he should try calling again? No, what good would that do? They’d still be disconnected or the wrong number. Maybe he should just delete them. Honestly, they weren’t doing him any good and he could probably sell the phone for some good G even if it was a little glitchy. He goes to the first contact and selects the delete option. His thumb hovers over the confirmation. And keeps hovering. Both his hands are shaking, why can’t he just do it already? Why does he feel so awful about deleting a glitched out mess that just causes his phone to crash when he tries to call?

He presses the button.

The phone dies.

“no, no, not again. turn on, turn on, turn on…” It takes a moment, but the phone comes back to life again. Just like the other times. Sans’s shoulders slump in relief, when it’s done waking up he’s pleasantly surprised. All of the options are normal, no glitches, no half missing letters, just a regular menu. There’s the contacts, messages, inventory, and applications. Sans isn’t quite sure what applications are, so he selects that one. Oh, that’s simple enough. It’s got a calendar, alarms, notes, bank… bank?

He curiously selects the bank option, it’s just numbers. A long string of numbers and underneath that…. two options he hadn’t noticed at first glance: deposit or withdraw. Sans selects withdraw and hits 5 just to see what happens. Five gold fall out of the phone. Sans scrambles to pick them up before the sound of metal hitting stone, muffled as it is by the pile of blankets he’s still sitting on, can alert anyone else. He looks down at the five gold coins in his hand, then back at the phone with the ludicrously large number still emblazoned on the screen.

“holy shit.” He shoves the phone and gold into his empty pocket and gets up to look at the wall between him and the street. It takes a few tries and too much concentration, but he eventually manages to get out of the alley. There’s a brief moment of brilliant darkness and vertigo, then he’s standing just inside the mouth of an alley that’s cut off by a new wall made of a different colored stone.

Huh, that was interesting. And wrong. Something about whatever he just did hadn’t felt right, like he was going about it all backwards or something. He probably had, but that wasn’t important. He knows exactly where he wants to go. He pulls out his last crab apple and bites into it as he ~~waddles~~ saunters out into the street.

After weaving through the streets and ignoring anyone trying to get in his way, he makes it to a hotel. Like everything else he’s not sure how he knows about he just accepts it and walks right through the doors and up to the counter. He taps the bell even though the employee behind the counter is glaring right at him.

“how much to rent a room for a week?”

“Like some street brat like you can even afford it.”

Sans grins widely at them, “try me.”

A quick payment later and he’s unlocking the door to his new temporary home, one that has room service. He orders more food than even he can eat before stripping out of his filthy clothes, just leaving them where they fall, and heading for the shower. Even the kid is squirming around happily as he lets the water wash the dirt and grime from his bones, or at least he thinks they’re happy. He’s happy, that’s all he really cares about right this moment. All too soon there’s a knock on the door and he reluctantly turns off the water, puts on a hotel provided bathrobe, and heads out to answer the door. There’s another knock before he’s even halfway there.

“alright, alright, i’m almost there, hold your antsy pants.” He opens the door to find a bellhop with a strained smile on his face standing next to a cart topped with a covered platter.

“Here’s your room service, sir.”

“thanks.” Sans tosses the 5G he’d first pulled from the phone at the bellhop, grabs the platter, and kicks the door shut. He just plops down on the bed and drops the cover at his feet before digging into his meal. For the first time in days he’s full, really full, and safe, and warm, and he has a soft bed to sleep in, and he just does not care about anything else. He lays back and curls up over the bed’s covers right next to the remains of his meal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a mysterious phone! How is it chock full of money like that? Where did Sans get it all? Actually it's a holdover from the story's first incarnation that just wasn't working. Papyrus was going to believe Sans was actually dead, instead of just going into a coma Sans was going to vanish into the void and then later pop back up. Gaster was going to be a lot kinder, but that just didn't work once I realized how young Sans was when Papyrus was conceived. I suppose I could have made Gaster possessive or obsessive, but I think this is how the story wanted to be from the beginning and I am but a humble author, I have no control here.


	10. Just a lot of Exposition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More talking, just Sans and Papyrus sitting on the couch talking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for this chapter: brief mention of medical child torture, teen pregnancy, and Mpreg.

“SO… THEN WHAT HAPPENED?”

“after gettin’ some new clothes i went and found someplace to live that didn’t cost an arm and a leg to rent, i couldn’t risk my new ‘emergency fund’ runnin’ out. that’s when i found that apartment,” Sans tapped the photo album, “and met nana. she was a smart cookie, came over my first week at the complex with a casserole, probably smelled my horrid attempt at cookin’ and took pity on me. we came to an agreement: i paid fer our groceries and she cooked fer the both of us, or i guess the three of us. heh, she had me all figured out: a scared, pregnant kid all alone with a lot of gold and no source anyone could figure out. maybe she was takin’ advantage, but god did i need the help. and i think she really did start to care after gettin’ to know me. you sure had her wrapped ‘round yer little finger though, first time ya called her nana she ‘bout dusted right then and there.”

“I DON’T REMEMBER HER AT ALL.”

“not surprised, ya were only five when she did finally kick the bucket. after the funeral i moved us both out here. i wanted to get away from new home, from all the people, just go somewhere quiet where i could take care of ya without worryin’ so much. and everythin’ bein’ cheaper sure helped.”

“PLUS NO ONE KNEW YOU WEREN’T ACTUALLY MY OLDER BROTHER.” Papyrus leveled an accusing glare at Sans.

“yeah… that was true too.” Sans sighed as he looked down at the empty soda can in his hands.

Papyrus sighed himself, “WHY DID YOU LIE?”

“a few reasons. one of ‘em was the missin’ memories, some day you’d be old enough to ask ‘who’s my other parent?’ and i wouldn’t’ve had the answer. ‘swhy it took me so long to even try tellin’ ya. another reason was just ‘cause it was… easier.” Papyrus huffed, Sans sat up and spoke louder as he defended himself. “hey, i was only fifteen when you were born! all alone and that hole in my memory… no kid that young is ready to be a parent, it was easier fer me to call ya my brother. and it was easier to lie to everyone else too. i tried, y’know? if i told people the truth they yelled at me, tried to take ya away. imagine it,” Sans swept an arm across the space in front of them, “complete strangers would just start screamin’ at me while tryin’ to pull ya outta my arms, like shippin’ ya off to an orphanage rather than stayin’ with yer own marrow and magic was somehow better.” Sans sneered distastefully, then slumped back into the couch before continuing.

“but when i said ya were my bro, even when it was obvious they didn’t believe me, they just… dropped it. let me live my life. i’m sorry though, nana was right, she told me lyin’ was just gonna bite me in the ass later. i’ve been chokin’ on this stupid secret for years, too afraid to tell ya the truth and too guilty not to try anyway.” They both fell silent after that, Papyrus stared down at his mostly empty soda while Sans plucked morosely at his shorts.

After the silence had stretched out too long, Papyrus finally spoke. “TELL ME MORE ABOUT NAIAD, SHE WAS CLEARLY IMPORTANT. TO BOTH OF US.”

Sans chortled, “what a great ol’ dame she was. like i said: came over after smellin’ my first attempt at cookin’, and i wasn’t about to let food go to waste so she hadda stop me from eatin’ it.” Sans shook his head and chuckled at the memory. “after we came to our agreement i started spendin’ more and more time over at her apartment, she had the one right next to ours. i’d give her the money to go buy whatever groceries she wanted, never let her see me pull it from the phone mind ya, then i’d sit at her table and chat with her while she cooked. it turned into lessons eventually, but not ‘til after you were born.”

“WHY NOT?”

Sans shrugged, “couldn’t stay on my feet very long.” Papyrus scoffed, Sans glared at him. “and she wouldn’t let me even when i tried, bein’ pregnant’s not easy, papyrus.”

“YES, YES, IT’S NOT JUST YOUR USUAL LAZINESS AT PLAY.”

Sans sighed sadly and looked down and away, Papyrus suddenly wondered if he was poking at some unknown, old wound. After a while Sans started talking again, though his face hadn’t lost its melancholy yet. “heh, she had a rockin’ chair that basically became mine towards the end. the bigger ya got the more active ya got, even back then ya didn’t like me sleepin’. every time i lay or sit down you started squirmin’ and kickin’ and just generally bein’ a bossy li’l babybones.”

“I AM NOT BOSSY!”

“sure thing, boss.” Sans winked at Papyrus, who had to resist the urge to huff and cross his arms over his chest like a petulant child. “so when i couldn’t take it anymore i’d sit in the rockin’ chair and naiad’d rock it with her foot. you calmed down, i dropped right off to sleep, and she kept rockin’ it ‘til i woke up. i honestly don’t know what i’d’ve done without her.”

“I’M SORRY I CAN’T REMEMBER HER.”

“not yer fault, like i said ya were only five when she died. ya were pretty tore up too, cried for days.”

“HOW DID IT HAPPEN?”

“she… she fell down. knocked on her door for breakfast one mornin’ and she didn’t answer. didn’t wake up.”

“DID YOU HOLD A FUNERAL?”

Sans scoffed, “’course i did! ol’ gal deserved it. unfortunately her family showed up.”

Papyrus’s brow furrowed, “HOW IS THAT UNFORTUNATE?”

Sans scowled and his voice slowly rose as he talked, “she was livin’ all alone in a shitty, tiny apartment complex fulla retirees who couldn’t afford to live someplace better. all the rest had no family left, but naiad had one that wanted nothin’ to do with her. it wasn’t fair to her. she had kids and grand kids that never visited, not once in the whole five years we lived there. i never even met ‘em until after she dusted.” Sans petulantly crossed his arms over his chest and slumped further into the couch before grumbling, “and they took all her stuff too. said they were her nexta kin and heirs and her stuff should rightfully go to ‘em. you know what they did with a lotta it? threw it out! i ended up diggin’ a buncha it outta the dumpster ‘round back, saved what i could. was actually kinda glad they threw out her recipe books, woulda been hell tryin’ to keep ya fed from memory.”

“THOSE INGRATES SHOULDN’T HAVE EVEN BEEN INFORMED OF HER DEATH.”

“yeah well… no use gettin’ angry now. it’s over, in the past, done with. i didn’t bother tryin’ to keep in contact with ‘em so i have no idea how to find ‘em even if i wanted to. and i don’t.”

Papyrus simply nodded, there was nothing to be gained from contacting such ungrateful filth. Much like there had been nothing to be gained from contacting Sans’s own parents, something he had briefly considered when he had found their information amongst Sans’s intake paperwork. Which reminded him, “SO… WHAT WAS IT LIKE BEING A TEST SUBJECT?”

“you already know, you’ve read my files.” Sans motioned to the papers still spread out over the dinner table. Papyrus gave him a look, Sans cringed, but started speaking again. “i s’ppose you want somethin’ a bit more personal than the notes taken by a buncha sciencey types. alright, when i was a kid i thought bein’ a test subject was the best thing to ever happen to me, and in a way it was. i was gonna die livin’ on the streets, sooner rather than later. probably had less than a month left when i got picked up, i was dirty and hungry and homeless. and then i wasn’t anya those things anymore. you read the dates on those reports, right?”

Papyrus nodded, “YES, OF COURSE.”

“you know there were long stretches of nothin’ between experiments. he was a busy man who didn’t always have time fer his ‘pet projects’ as we were called. there were weeks or even months where all i was expected to do was play with a buncha other kids.”

“I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THAT I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO START. HOW WAS HE NOT CAUGHT FOR DOING SOMETHING SO INCREDIBLY ILLEGAL?”

“i honestly don’t know the answer to that. i think it might’ve been ‘cause he was the royal scientist back then.”

“HE WAS WHAT?”

“oh, guess that isn’t in anya the paperwork. okay, he was the royal scientist back before dr. alphys. he built the core.”

“HE BUILT… THE CORE.”

“yup.” Sans popped the P, something that always drove Papyrus nuts.

“OKAY… SO YOU’RE TELLING ME KING ASGORE, THE MONSTER WHO WILL PERSONALLY TORTURE AND PUBLICLY EXECUTE ANYONE CAUGHT HARMING ANY CHILD, KNEW OF AND APPROVED OF HIS PERSONAL SCIENTIST KIDNAPPING HOMELESS CHILDREN OFF THE STREETS TO **EXPERIMENT ON**?”

“yeah, it don’t add up. but i’m tellin’ ya that’s what it looked like. i mean, i never met asgore, but i watched **him** order ‘round the guard plentya times.”

Papyrus rubbed his nasal bridge in frustration before sighing in defeat. “GASTER WOULD ORDER AROUND THE ROYAL GUARDS.”

“like he was the captain. heh, he had ‘em chasin’ me back into the lab so often i’m surprised they didn’t try to herd me back on instinct.”

“BECAUSE THEY COULDN’T REMEMBER EITHER.”

“yup, not that there was anythin’ to herd me back into.”

“THAT REMINDS ME, YOU STILL HAVEN’T EXPLAINED HOW YOU GOT YOUR MEMORIES BACK. YOU DID GET THEM BACK, RIGHT?”

“yeah… i did. okay. ya remember when dr. alphys became the new royal scientist?”

“OF COURSE.”

“that’s how it started…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a bit surprised with myself about how important to the story Naiad became. Considering what a rock she was for the boys it shouldn't surprise me so much, but she honestly started off as just one of many side characters that were ultimately unimportant. Some, like Peter (the rock elemental landlord mentioned in a few photos all those chapters ago) were only left in as a brief mention. Others, like the maternity/baby shop employees Sans befriended when he became a regular, were left out altogether. Naiad though, her importance just grew and grew. I love her now, and I'm kind of sad this dear old lady just isn't going to get the attention she deserves in this fic. Well, Sans remembers her fondly, and even if Papyrus can't remember her anymore he at least knows of her again and I'm sure that would make her happy. Her memory lives on.


	11. Memory Lane Closed due to Construction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans recounts how he got his memories back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this chapter: Mention of medical torture, child abuse, and Mpreg/teen pregnancy.

"You heard the news? We finally got a new Royal Scientist.”

“New one? Did we ever have an old one?”

“’Course we did, he built the Core.”

“Oh yeah, right, I forgot about that… So what’s this new Royal Scientist like?”

“wait, wait…” Sans says from his seat at Grillby’s bar, he turns to the other two monsters gossiping at a table just behind him. “go back. what about the ol’ royal scientist? he built the core? really?”

One of the monsters scoffs, “Uh… yeah???? Someone didn’t pay any attention in school.”

Sans rolls his eyelights in response. “oh, lookit you! mr. hoity toity ‘i could afford to get sent to school as a kid.’ not alla us had that luxury, asshole.”

“School was free,” the monster replies quietly with a crinkled brow.

“It’s pretty common fucking knowledge,” the monster’s friend says loudly with an eye roll of their own.

“yeah? so who’s this guy that built the core? when?”

“It was… a long time ago?” the first monster says in confusion. “And uh… his name… it was…” he trails off, a blank look taking over his face.

“But who cares about old news like that? I want to hear about this hot new scientist.”

Sans huffs and turns back to the bar to find Grillby behind it, polishing a glass. “hey grillby, you know anythin’ ‘bout the ol’ royal scientist?”

Grillby scowls at Sans, but he scowls at everyone so Sans pays that no mind. Grillby puts the glass down and leans closer to Sans, “… … … he built the Core.”

“okay, that’s what those two said, but what else?”

Grillby tilts his head in thought, the scowl fading away to leave a blank face behind. “… … … I know there was a laboratory built for him in Hotland after he built the Core, but I don’t think it was ever finished. Near the end he just… vanished?” Grillby looks confused, his gaze drifts down to stare at the counter in thought. After a moment he starts wiping the bar down.

“hey, that’s it? he just vanished?”

“… … … who just vanished?” Grillby looks back up at Sans, the scowl firmly back in place.

Sans sits back and stares at Grillby in disbelief. “the ol’ royal scientist, the guy who built the core, who we were **just talking about**? what even was his name?”

“… … … you feeling okay?”

“ferget it.” Sans hops off his seat and stuffs his hands in his jacket pockets before shouldering open the door and stalking out into Snowdin.

There’s a rabbit standing near the corner of Grillby’s who calls out to Sans, “Hey there, wanna have a good time?” He winks at Sans.

Sans snorts, “maybe next time, basil.” Sans pauses, then stands up a little straighter. “say basil, know anything ‘bout the ol’ royal scientist?”

“I know he built the Core,” Basil replies absently as he inspects his claws.

“anythin’ else?”

“What else is there to know? I did hear his old lab is going to get an overhaul for the new Royal Scientist.”

“oh yeah? i heard the lab never got used.”

“It didn’t,” Basil scoffed. “It got built but the old scientist scarpered off somewhere before he ever used it. I think he went wherever the queen vanished off to.”

“yeah? it happen ‘round the same time?”

“No!” Basil nearly yelled, sounding personally offended. “Damn, I thought those rumors about you being a dumb fuck were just rumors.”

“i’m not the one just spillin’ info without demandin’ payment,” Sans singsonged as he started walking again.

Basil’s blush could be seen even through his pale, dingy fur. “Yeah, well… I’m not the one… who… thinks common knowledge everyone learned in grade school is worth paying for!”

“nice come back,” Sans chortles as he just keeps walking. Once safely inside the house he slumps against the door, all humor draining away. Papyrus won’t be home for a little while yet so Sans doesn’t have to worry about him bursting in and knocking him over… theoretically. Sans decides to move his slump over to the couch. He laces his fingers together and rests them against his teeth as he thinks over everything he just learned.

“ok… so everyone has a gapin’ hole in their memory where the ol’ royal scientist should be and i have a big gapin’ hole in my memory that papyrus popped out of, the two could possibly be related. so it’s been a while but…” Sans closes his orbits as he tries to bring up memories of those missing five years.

People in white lab coats, a cold, sterile building, a room of training dummies and targets against a distant wall, other faceless children being shushed…

He had thought the lab coats meant doctors and the building was a hospital. But maybe he was assuming wrong, maybe they’d been scientists? “it’s possible…” Sans opens his orbits and absently rubs at a forming headache while he considers everything else he’d been told. “by lab does everyone mean that building over near waterfall?” He shifts a little as he thinks it over, when he had first ‘woken up’ with missing memories he had wandered all over Hotland in the hopes of finding something familiar. The last stop had been the elevator closest to the bridge and tunnel leading into Waterfall, he had spent the night curled up next to the side of an old, long abandoned building with a big sign declaring it a “Laboratory” over the front door. It had felt familiar at the time but Sans had dismissed it because it was clearly old and unused. In retrospect that seemed odd, abandoned buildings were rare due to lack of space and scarcity of building materials down here, but the few times they did happen they were quickly taken over by squatters. Sans should have thought it was the perfect place to hunker down inside of for the night, but he had only curled up next to it.

“yeah, something ain’t right.” Sans checks the time, he should be getting dinner started right now, but Papyrus has the late shift tonight and won’t be home for a few more hours. Sans grabs a piece of paper and quickly scribbles a note:

> hey bro, cooking for just one just isn’t worth the effort  
>  i’m going out for dinner.

He leaves it on the table, held down by their trusty pet rock, and steps through a tear in time and space. He comes out on the side of the exact building he’d been thinking of, the very spot he had slept in all those years ago, he knows it’s out of sight. He nonchalantly strolls around the building and looks up at the old sign, half of it seems to have fallen off and it only reads “Lab” now. There don’t seem to be any other monsters around, hopefully it’s too early for a renovation crew to have started yet, or late enough they’ve all gone home if they have.

Sans saunters up to the front door and starts poking around. It doesn’t have any visible handles but there’s a dirty box near the door that looks like it has a slot for a card swipe and several dark light bulbs. He wonders how anyone’s supposed to get in or out if there’s some kind of power cutting emergency. He tries poking at the number pad, but it’s so crusted over with ash and dirt he can’t even fully press the buttons.

“i’d really like to get inside somehow,” Sans grouses to himself.

Next thing he knows his skull is throbbing and ringing as he dizzily tries to keep upright. The feeling quickly passes and he shakes his skull to help clear it. Huh, that was weird, a shortcut hadn’t felt so wrong since the first one when he was pregnant and homeless. Well… the first one he could remember anyway.

Sans looks up and around, he’s inside a dark, musty, dirty room that looks like it used to be a reception area. There’s one of those long desk/counter things you find in reception rooms next to a single door, a couple dead potted plants in the corners and overturned chairs against the wall finish the look. “weird,” Sans comments to himself as he slowly wanders into the large space, “why have a reception desk if you need a card key just to get in?”

He climbs over the counter and goes poking around behind it, but finds nothing but a pair of old, rusted office chairs and broken monitors with no computers attached. He climbs back over the counter, “ugh, gettin’ too old for this shit.”

He tries the door next, but like the front one there is no handle. Instead it has a simple pad with one down arrow button on it. He tries the button but nothing happens. “of course, it goes on lock down when everyone goes home for the night. wait… what?” His brows furrow in confusion for a moment, but by now he doesn’t bother to wonder where his random thoughts come from.

Sans closes his eyes and tries to force another shortcut. He gets the same level of vertigo and skull ringing as getting inside had, which he supposes is good news. Sans frowns, he really shouldn’t be able to shortcut anywhere he hadn’t been before, he’d tried several times in places he was almost certain he’d never been before, like the new house in Snowdin. Just stood there next to closed doors and tried to force a simple half meter jump, but they had never ever worked. The fact he could force them here, like in that closed off alleyway with the blanket nest, was a bit odd. No, more than that, it was downright weird. This place had been long abandoned from day one of his interrupted memory, had been old and falling apart and full of cobwebs and dust even before he first ‘woke up.’ This couldn’t be the brightly lit, cold ~~while in Hotland no less!~~ , sterile place he could vaguely remember in bits and pieces.

He scowls as he walks down the familiar hallway, the floor covered in a thin coating of undisturbed dust. The regular dirt kind, not the last remains kind. And god, wasn’t that a horrible thought? He chooses to focus on the closed doors he’s passing, the doorways that don’t have missing doors anyway. It doesn’t look like anything violent happened here, and yet some doors are just… gone. Not even laying on the floor near their frames. He wonders if he’ll open a closet somewhere and a bunch of doors will just fall out on top of him.

Shortly he finds himself standing in front of the last door, the one the hallway ends on. It exists and is closed. He reaches for the door handle and is unsurprised to find it doesn’t turn. The blinds in the window next to the door are drawn, so he can’t peek in to get a point of reference for a shortcut. He closes his eyes, then shortcuts into the office. He’s not even questioning it anymore, this one barely leaves his skull ringing or spinning. The office is generic enough, aside from the air being musty and stale and everything covered in a layer of grime and dust.

It’s also unnervingly familiar.

Sans decides to check the file cabinets behind the desk. He has the urge to run a phalange along the bookshelves that line the walls, but they’re disappointingly empty so he can’t. He runs a claw over the dust covered shelves anyway. Then he’s rifling through the first drawer of the nearest filing cabinet. He pulls out a file with a three digit number on it written in familiar handwriting. The print is so neat and uniform it can only be written by a skeleton. There’s a photo attached to the first page and the test Subject is familiar, the notes taken on them are familiar, the forms they’re written on are familiar, but he just can’t quite remember. He rifles through a few more files, but the results are the same. Just a strong sense of deja vu. Out of frustration he closes the drawer a little harder than strictly necessary. He scowls at it, Test Subjects 001-029, bah!

Maybe actually reading these before opening them would help though. He bends closer to squint at the labels in the dark room, the over head lights weak and flickering. Test Subjects 030-059, Test Subjects 060-089, and they just keep going like that.

Sans moves onto the next cabinet. This one’s a little more interesting, the first drawer is “Test Subjects WDG 037, WDG 042, WDG 069”. Sans opens it and leafs through them. There are more notes, both that the notes being taken were more thorough and that the test Subjects had more experiments run on them. But still: familiar but not enough to remember. He puts the files back and looks down at the next drawer.

> Test Subject WDG 102  
>  Medical History

“oh wow, whoever that poor sucker was they have a whole drawer all to themselves. musta been _real_ special.” Sans chuckles to himself as he opens the drawer and pulls out the first file. Paper clipped to the first page, just like all the others, is a photo taken when the test subject was first brought in.

Sans dangled from the guard’s grip, he kicked and clawed and screeched and even threw out a single, desperate, insubstantial bone that dissipated before it could even reach the guard’s armored arm. Eventually he grew tired and just gave up. As he hung limply from the guard’s grasp he was set down on a cold, clean, metal table.

Sans gasps as he comes back to the present, his skull pounding and his scarred orbit throbbing in time with the pounds. He’s sitting on the dusty office floor, the file spilled open before him where he had dropped it. He quickly scrambles to gather up the papers and starts looking through them.

He struggled to hold back tears as his bullet just wouldn’t form. He had to, Doctor had ordered him to and if he followed orders he would eat. But he couldn’t. He needed to but couldn’t but he needed to. He needed to!

He listened carefully as the man spoke, memorizing his instructions before following through on them. This one was easy enough, summoning bullets was as easy as breathing for the first time in his life.

His marrow burned! He squeezed his eyes shut and gasped as he tried to keep himself from squirming. The injection site burned the worst, but it didn’t let up as it spread further and further through his bones. It only seemed to burn all the harsher as time went on, Sans barely noticed the tears leaking down his face. He couldn’t hold back his pathetic whimpering.

“i… i was a test subject,” Sans gasps in horror as he holds his aching skull. The files have fallen from his grip again, each memory stabbing into him like a dagger with every sentence read. “the previous royal scientist, and i was one of the special ones that got his initials appended on…” He no longer wondered at where he had learned all the pretentious words he struggled to keep out of his every day speech. “if the new one found out they’d probably… shit. i need to… i need to burn it all! or no, i need to read these to remember. i need to take these home. no wait, i can’t let papyrus see them, not yet. where can i… the basement!” Sans gathers up the papers and messily shoves everything back in its cabinet, then grips the whole thing tightly as he forcefully drags it through a shortcut into the basement. It’s dark down there, he feels around until he finds the light and turns it on. Musty and a bit moldy, a few dusty boxes full of old odds and ends are scattered around the room. Regular dirt dust, just like the lab only less of it. Sans looks at the boxes, then at the top of the file cabinet… not that much less. If it was already long abandoned before he even got the house shouldn’t there be so much more dust?

“i don’t understand, it doesn’t make sense… what happened to me? was it only as a kid? did it get shut down shortly after? an experiment on my memory that was triggered later by something random?” He stares down at the file cabinet he managed to shove into one of the frosty corners, then shakes his head. “worry about that later.” He steps through another shortcut and grabs the other file cabinet to drag into the basement too.

Exhausted, head pounding, and shaking with anxiety, Sans decides to call it a night and worry about the rest in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're almost at the end, just the epilogue to go after this. Who's excited for the last chapter? I sure am!
> 
> I'm going to say this now because there's going to be a whooooooole lot of notes at the end of the next chapter, but I'm taking a short break after this is all up. The holidays have me running around at work like crazy and I have no spoons at the end of the day for writing. That on top of taking part in a Secret Santa event means I just don't have the time to focus on the next story. So I'll be posting my Secret Santa stuff on Epiphany, then I'll be posting the first chapter of the next story when I have a few chapters ahead written out and ready to go. In the mean time: look forward to a double update next week!


	12. Brothers, I think.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "And if you're bored, you can sit outside and watch those wacky skeletons do their thing.  
> There's two of 'em...  
> Brothers, I think."
> 
> -Snowdin Shopkeep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for: mentions of rape, mentions of unethical experimentation, mentions of just generally bad times. You should know the drill by now.

“so after ya went on patrol the next day i went to my boss to ask fer some time off, he refused.”

“AND THAT’S WHEN YOU LOST YOUR JOB?”

“yup,” Sans popped the P again, Papyrus’s brow twitched. “i didn’t even want paid leave, we had enough savin’s even without dippin’ into the ‘emergency fund’,” he even did the air quotes, “so i thought i’d take a week or two off and go through all that paperwork and get my memory back and everythin’ figured out. when he refused i decided to just walk out, never really liked that job anyway.” Sans shrugged.

“OF COURSE YOU DID.” Papyrus pinched his nasal bridge. “THERE WAS OBVIOUSLY MORE THAN JUST THOSE FILE CABINETS DOWN THERE.”

“yeah, it kinda turned into a routine. i pretended to go to work in the mornin’ but actually went down to the basement and read through the files. then after the renovatin’ crew went home fer the night i pretended to go out but actually went to the lab and grabbed whatever i remembered that day.”

“LIKE THE VIDEO TAPES.”

“sure, i remembered those eventually. first i remembered the stuff in the office was just his copies, so i went to the archives and took my stuff from there. then i thought alphys’d noticed holes in the filin’ system so i went back and took everythin’-”

“THAT EXPLAINS THE DOOR THAT JUST LEADS TO A PILE OF FILING CABINETS STACKED ON TOP OF EACH OTHER SO HAPHAZARDLY I THOUGHT THEY WERE GOING TO FALL ON ME.”

“they’re stable! i’ll have you know i’m excellent at balancin’ things, ya just gotta find their center of balance.”

“I’M SURPRISED WE HAD ROOM FOR EVERYTHING DOWN THERE.”

“technically we don’t.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN?”

“i kinda sorta maybe stole a whole floor of the labs and replaced our basement with it.”

“I… YOU… **HOW**?!”

“same way i take shortcuts and you bend space.”

“OH, RIGHT, THAT. WAIT… IS ALL THIS TEST SUBJECT SHIT WHY WE CAN DO THAT?”

“kinda? it’s more that i specialized in quantum physics back then and spent a lotta my time applyin’ it to magic. specifically quantum tunneling and dimensional technology, you got me to thank for those boxes sprinkled all over the underground.”

“THEY’RE SO LAZY, I SHOULD’VE KNOWN YOU WERE BEHIND THEM.”

“so yeah, those tricks we can pull? ‘sjust usin’ magic as a catalyst for dimensional techniques. anyone can do them, i didn’t want ya blabbin’ ‘bout all that ‘cause they’re a nice ace up our sleeves.” Sans yawned and stretched before settling into a more comfortable position on the couch. “so i think that covers the basics, didja have any other questions?”

“YOU REMEMBER EVERYTHING NOW? EVEN THE THINGS THAT WEREN’T WRITTEN DOWN IN THE FILES?”

“yeah, it was a bitch rememberin’ at first, every new one hit like undyne. i was relivin’ the memories to go with each entry, so a lotta them sucked like ya wouldn’t believe.”

“I WATCHED SOME OF THE VIDEOS.”

“okay, so maybe ya would believe it, but that’s not really the point. the more i remembered, the more i’d remember next time until i started rememberin’ the stuff between sessions. a note written by a doctor here, a post it stuck to a form there, random complaints written to him ‘bout me, they’d started triggerin’ more and more memories. then i had to go back and read them all over again from the beginnin’ to get the bigger memories for the earlier stuff and just… a whole lotta not fun.”

“YOU NEVER SAID A THING.”

“i couldn’t, i didn’t have the whole missin’ chunk of memory back yet. i still wasn’t sure where you came from or how. don’t look at me like that, i know ya know i know where babies come from. but for a while i was scared ya were just another experiment, him tryin’ to make a super soldier or somethin’. seemed right up his alley, he made the blasters, ya know.”

“I DID READ THAT IN ONE OF YOUR FILES, YES.”

“so it took a while, lettin’ the memories hit and then takin’ a while to recover from them and uh… digest them i guess is the best way to put it? all while bein’ in a rush to find every last trace of me and steal it from the lab before dr. alphys could find it. had to sabotage the lab a coupla times to keep the renovatin’ crew away from the most important stuff.”

Papyrus gave Sans one of his Looks.

“yer not gonna arrest me, they’re fine now. i’ve got everythin’ and last i heard through the grape vine they’re just about done with the new and improved lab.”

“FINE, FINE. I SUPPOSE CONSIDERING THE SITUATION YOU WERE IN THAT WAS FOR THE BEST, SO LONG AS NO ONE WAS INJURED.”

“nah, no injuries. and it was for the best, not like anyone’s missin’ anything. all that stuff shouldn’t even exist, no one else would even remember they had seen it five minutes after lookin’.”

“UNDYNE DOES.”

“undyne saw this shit?” Sans’s eyelights shrank to pin pricks as he looked up at Papyrus in worry.

“I ASKED HER NOT TO TELL ANYONE AND SHE’S AGREED. YOU’LL HAVE TO TELL HER SOMETHING TO GET HER TO STOP LOOKING INTO THINGS, BUT SHE REALLY DOESN’T KNOW MUCH.”

“yeah, i s’ppose if i just tell her he’s gone she’ll drop it.”

“WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM ANYWAY? AND WHY IS EVERYONE’S MEMORY OF HIM SO… MISSING?”

“that one’s a little tougher. ya know that broken machine in the basement? well i found some security footage, him and a few other scientists-”

“WHY DO YOU KEEP SAYING ‘HIM’ INSTEAD OF HIS NAME?”

“i don’t want to get his attention.”

“YOU… WHAT? ISN’T HE DEAD?”

“i’m gettin’ to that.” Sans sat up and twisted so he was facing Papyrus, a scowl on his face and both fists on his hips. “you keep interruptin’ me, how can i explain why sayin’ his name is a bad idea if ya don’t let me finish?”

“FINE, FINE, JUST TELL YOUR DAMN STORY.”

“okay, so these scientists were doing somethin’, runnin’ some tests probably. there was a bright flash of light, then all the footage just cuts out. the room itself is uh… sealed off? inaccessible? ya can’t get to it in anyway, not by normal means. the hallway just dead ends, looks completely like a normal hallway too, but it stops just a few yards before where the doorway to the room should be. i had to shortcut in there, and instead of a doorway it’s solid, normal lookin’ wall. the way the universe went about cuttin’ him out is actually kinda fascinatin’.”

Papyrus grunted, he was tapping his fingers impatiently on the arm of the couch.

“so anyway, the machine. heh, funny thing is i helped make it.”

“THEY LET A TEST SUBJECT HELP BUILD THEIR EXPERIMENTS?” Papyrus asked skeptically.

“they let me get away with a lotta shit, got too used to me runnin’ ‘round doin’ whatever i wanted ‘cause there wasn’t much they could do to stop me. and ya know how scientists are-”

“NO, NOT REALLY.”

Sans grunted at the interruption and glared at Papyrus. “once i showed any interest in learnin’ ‘bout their interests they all threw all kinds of books and shit at me. but that’s not what i meant ‘bout helpin’ to build the machine. they were tryin’ to replicate my shortcuts. the machine was supposed to be able to teleport without harmin’ the passengers, probably as a way to get ‘round the barrier rather than outright break it. obviously somethin’ went wrong and well… i have no idea how to fix it. don’t want to at this point, we’re both better off without him in our lives. i just don’t want anyone else messin’ with it.”

“I CAN UNDERSTAND THAT, AND I CERTAINLY AGREE THAT WE’RE BETTER OFF WITHOUT HIM. BUT YOU STILL HAVEN’T EXPLAINED WHAT THAT HAS TO DO WITH NOT SAYING HIS NAME.”

“s’far as i can tell the experiment didn’t kill him or anya the others. there was no dust in that room, no monster dust anyway. ‘sides, just killin’ him wouldn’t’ve destroyed everyone’s memories.”

“DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT HAPPENED OR ARE YOU JUST STRINGING ME ALONG AT THIS POINT?” Papyrus narrowed his eye sockets at Sans.

“first of all, i’ve only had my memory back fer two months now, and that’s countin’ spendin’ the first two and a half weeks just gettin’ ‘em back and this last week in a coma. second of all, i may have some theories but i don’t got anya the equipment to test ‘em nor was i there when it happened. so to answer yer question: no, i don’t know exactly what happened. but my theory is somehow he got himself erased from time or existence or whatever ya wanna call it. everyone’s memories bein’ blocked but still there, every record of his name getting erased, the way the lab is there but not, all evidence of him just vanishing except for… you know, the core and us. it all points to time healing over a paradox.”

“YOU KNOW WHAT? I DON’T CARE ANY MORE.”

“that’s good, ‘cause i stopped carin’ long before i got my memories back. like i said: when i was a kid i thought bein’ a test subject was the best thing to happen to me. **when i was a kid**. but now, after bein’ out, livin’ a normal life, raisin’ you… lookin’ back on those memories is just awful. i kinda wish i could just ferget them again, but i’m also afraid it’d be too easy to do just that.”

Papyrus nodded, Gaster’s name was slipping away from him already. He wouldn’t be surprised if Undyne couldn’t even remember she had ever been told his name by the time he sees her again. “THAT STILL DOESN’T EXPLAIN WHY YOU DON’T LIKE SAYING HIS NAME.”

“well, if he ain’t dust then he’s still out there, right?”

Papyrus supposed that made a weird sort of sense, though he didn’t think that meant it merited avoiding the psychopath’s name like he was some sort of all powerful being. The fact Sans had started sweating also wasn’t lost on Papyrus, but he supposed he let it slide. For now. He drained the last dredges of his own soda, then stood and took the empty cans and dirty plates into the kitchen. He came back and sat down next to Sans again.

“so… that all the questions ya got?”

Papyrus took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “THERE IS ONE QUESTION LEFT, AND I THINK I ALREADY KNOW THE ANSWER BUT IT NEEDS TO BE ASKED ANYWAY. WHO IS MY FATHER?”

“ **he** was,” Sans said with finality. He looked up at Papyrus as he continued on, “the royal scientist, creator of the core, certified genius. heh,” Sans’s face split into a cheeky smirk, “ain’t that a pedigree to be proud of?”

Papyrus nodded. “AND I LOOK LIKE HIM.”

“yeah, ya do.” Sans sounded almost wistful.

“AND SOUND LIKE HIM.”

“well… his voice. ya don’t really talk like him.”

“I JUST… I DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW YOU CAN TALK ABOUT THAT… THAT UTTER BASTARD THE WAY YOU DO.”

“technically yer the bastard.”

“SANS!”

“alright, i get it. look, it’s complicated. i was young and dumb and thought i was in love back then. i was in a messed up situation and i knew it, but i didn’t know just how messed up it really was until i finally got my memory back. and he was the first person to actually care ‘bout me, even if it was for his own twisted reasons. suddenly gettin’ my memories and the feelin’s that came with them back and having a whole life to look back on them with is messin’ with my head. but one thing i know for a fact and will never change is i love ya, okay? don’t ever doubt that, i love you with every speck of dust in me. from ma sagittal suture to ma distal phalanges.”

Papyrus rolled his eyelights. “I LOVE YOU TOO.” They pulled each other into a hug, after a moment Papyrus pulled away and Sans reluctantly let go. “I STILL HAVE MORE QUESTIONS, BUT MUCH LIKE YOUR MEMORIES I NEED SOME TIME TO THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU’VE TOLD ME FIRST.”

“that’s fine, if anyone understands that it’s me.”

“FOR NOW I THINK IT’S TIME WE BOTH CALLED IT A NIGHT. I’VE BEEN SLACKING OFF ON MY DUTIES LONG ENOUGH-”

“aw bro, you been slackin’? i’m so proud!” Sans pretended to wipe a single tear from his eye socket.

“AND YOU’RE STILL RECOVERING, SO WE’RE BOTH GOING TO BED AND WE CAN TALK TOMORROW AFTER I RESUME MY REGULAR SHIFTS.”

“alright, papyrus. good night.”

They both went upstairs and followed their nightly ritual. Sans took a moment to marvel at how clean his room had become while he was in the hospital. After one last round to check the door and all the windows were locked, they both laid down in their respective beds. All the lights were out and silence descended on the house.

Papyrus lay awake for some time, mind busily reviewing all the information he had been given, making connections between the spoken and the unspoken, and planning out the questions he would ask later before eventually drifting off.

Sans also lay awake, sprawled out on his bed with an arm thrown over his orbits. Despite how emotionally and mentally exhausted he was, physically he wasn’t tired, not any more than his usual level of lethargy. ~~The level that was slowly creeping higher with each passing year.~~ But more than that, the source of his mental and emotional exhaustion wouldn’t let his mind rest, too trapped in memories both recent and from his rocky past. Thoughts and memories would flit across his mind only to sink back into the murky depths most thoughts about Gaster seemed to drown in. How desperate he had been to please Gaster as a small child, the liberties he started taking as a teenager, just how much Gaster’s seeming benevolence contrasted with Naiad’s actual love for him and little babybones Papyrus… but the one memory that kept coming back and refused to be ignored was more recent, from barely a month ago.

Sans sits in the newly remodeled basement, everything finally tucked away where he can find it again or hidden away if he doesn’t want to find it. He’s sitting next to the two filing cabinets from the office, **his** office, with a couple related files open and pages spread out around him. Despite holding a few papers in each hand Sans’s arms are resting against his legs, his loose grip barely holding the papers. His head is thrown back, his face pointed towards the ceiling’s far corner, silent tears leaking from his closed orbits, his voice barely above a whisper as he murmurs to himself.

“he wasn’t an experiment or a test subject or some sort of super soldier i was forced to play incubator to.” Sans sobs quietly as he draws in a breath, “and messed up as it was, i really did love his father.” Sans slowly let the breath back out, a genuine smile quirking at the corners of his permanent grin despite the tears still steadily streaming down his face. “papyrus wasn’t a rape baby.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap. I know, a pretty bittersweet, open ending, but I didn't promise a happy ending with everything tied up. This story was about Papyrus finding all this out, and is meant to be a prequel for Underfell canon (such that it is). It's kind of funny, that quote from the shopkeep is what started all this. With Papyrus shouting "BROTHER" across the entire Underground on a daily basis how is the shopkeep at all unsure? Does she suspect they're not brothers? What if Sans were Papyrus's mother who was lying about being brothers? And then this whole... thing... happened. *gestures vaguely at the story*
> 
> I do have some other stuff planned for this setting, but it's been moved to the back burner for my own mental health. As much fun as I had with some parts, like the wonderful Papyrus&Undyne friendship, there was a whole lot that was just hard to write. And then edit. And then read over again before posting. So yeah, taking a break from this setting to do some more light hearted stuff after the holidays. In the mean time, I'm also posting up a summary of Sans's life with Gaster. I was going to do a full length fic but it was just too hard to write, and I couldn't imagine trying to read it! So go ahead and hit that "Next Work" link right below this if you're interested in that.


End file.
